Severe weather prompts ground stop at Tampa International Airport

Sat, May 2, 2026 at 5:49 PM UTC

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TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — The Federal Aviation Administration has issued a complete ground stop for Tampa International Airport.

Severe weather is moving through Tampa Bay on Saturday afternoon, and a tornado watch was issued for several local counties, including Hillsborough.

The ground stop went into effect at 1:09 p.m. and is currently scheduled to go through at least 3:30 p.m. on Saturday, May 2.

Average departure delays are around 90 minutes, but are getting longer due to weather.

The weather delays come just hours after Spirit Airlines announced it would be immediately winding down operations, leaving thousands of travelers stranded across the country.

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