Tampa Bay is in for a weather switch-up next week, when cooler air will boot out the unusually hot start to March.
A cold front early next week will drop Tampa Bay into the 40s and 50s. It’s the first brush of chilly air the area has had in weeks, and it comes as localstudents escape school for spring break.
The cooldown is just one ingredient in a mix of extreme weather bearing down on the United States.
While Tampa Bay will get a mild taste of the cold, areas in the Midwest and the Northeast will see bone-chilling temperatures. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the country’s southwest is expected to see hot temperatures in the triple digits.
Rodney Wynn, a meteorologist for the National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office, said our area’s weather is tethered to what’s going on over the rest of the country.
“You’ll never see it where it’s hot over the entire country at one time, over the East Coast and West Coast,” Wynn said. “It just kind of equals itself out.”
Ahead of Tampa Bay’s expected cold, the weekend will likely bring some afternoon showers, and highs will top out in the 80s and lows will fall into the 60s.
The weather service said Saturday rain chances will be up to 55% in Tampa. Sunday will be higher, up to 70%.
Wynn said rainfall will be most likely after 2 p.m. this weekend.
Monday is the start of spring break in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, when students may be looking to get outside. It’s also when a cold front is likely to push through Tampa Bay and once again up the rain chances.
“There may be some potential of strong to severe storms with this system,” a weather service forecast said Friday. “However, details this far out are still not clear so this will be something that we monitor throughout the weekend.”
Up to an inch of rain is possible in Tampa Bay over the next week, according to the weather service.
While the region is under a drought, the rainfall won’t be enough to make a dent in the dry conditions, Wynn said.
Consistent, dailyrainfall — common during the rainy season, which doesn’t begin until May — is likely the only anecdote.
By Tuesday, temperatures are likely to plummet. Wynn expects lows will be in the 40s and 50s, and daytime temperatures are likely to stall in the 60s.
Wednesday, the coldest morning of the week, will likely fall into the 40s in some areas of Tampa Bay.
A Friday weather service forecast said it couldn’t rule out the possibility of frost along the Nature Coast onTuesday night.
Temperatures are expected to inchcloser to normal on Thursday, when the mercury will reach up into the 70s.
The late-season cold spell is a stark switch from recent heat. Record hot temperatures have filled early March.
On March 6, Tampa marked its earliest 90-degree day since records began. Overall, Tampa is running about 9 degrees above normal so far this month, Wynn said.
That makes next week’s cooler weather all the more welcome.
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