Live At The Cape: Atlas Weather Outlook Improves

LIVE IMAGES: The images above are from live video feeds from the Air Force 45th Space Wing Weather Channel (left) and Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. They will automatically refresh to the most up-to-the-minute image every 30 seconds.

BLOGGER NOTE: Click into the box above for our live countdown coverage from the Florida Today Kennedy Space Center news bureau.

The countdown to the planned launch tonight of an Atlas V rocket and a top-secret satellite is ticking away at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and the weather forecast has taken a turn for the good.

The 19-story rocket and its payload -- a government communications satellite -- is scheduled to blast off from Launch Complex 41 at 5:35 p.m. The launch window will extend through 7:45 p.m.

Meteorologists issued a forecast today that calls for a 70 percent chance that conditions will be acceptable for launch. That is a dramatic turn-around from the forecast issued Monday. It called for a 60 percent chance stormy weather would cause a delay.

Forecasters now say a low pressure system off the Carolina coast is transporting dryer air the Florida peninsula, reducing the chance of afternoon and evening thunderstorms.

Here's the rest of the forecast:

Weak Westerly steering level winds will result in slow migration of interior thunderstorms toward the East coast. Upper level winds will transport anvil clouds from interior thunderstorms toward the East coast. The seabreeze is expected to develop near noon and serve as the focus for limited thunderstorm activity as it pushes slowly to the West.

The primary concerns for launch day are anvil clouds, cumulus clouds, and lightning. In the event of a 24 hour delay, the remnants of a frontal boundary to the South begins migrating back North increasing moisture and the threat of showers and thunderstorms. The primary concerns for a 24-hour delay are thick clouds, anvil clouds, cumulus clouds, and lightning.