ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — Warmth and sunshine — it's what we love about Florida and on Thursday the Tampa Bay area will get a huge dose of both.
Temperatures Thursday afternoon will soar into the mid-upper 80s for many across west-central Florida. These high temperatures will break or at least threaten numerous record high temperatures for today's date.
The 10 Tampa Bay Weather Team is forecasting a high on Thursday in Tampa of 86 degrees, a far cry from the normal high of 74 degrees for this time of year. The record high for Feb. 17 in Tampa is 83 degrees which was last set in 1995.
Feb. 17 in both 1981 and 1975 also had a high temperature of 83 degrees.
Update: Tampa reached 86 degrees on Thursday, according to the National Weather Service, which broke the previous record of 83 set in 1995, 1981 and 1975.
Most places around Tampa Bay and the Nature Coast will also likely break or tie record highs Thursday afternoon. Areas like Plant City could very well reach 90 degrees this afternoon which would break the record high of 89 degrees set in 1944.
These record temperatures, while warm for February, are more in line with what Tampa Bay tends to expect going into early May. The normal high temperature for May 1 is 86 degrees.
The burst of heat will be relatively short-lived as a cold front is expected to bring increasing cloud cover Friday afternoon and then slightly cooler temperatures on Saturday. Temperatures Saturday afternoon, however, will still be near normal with highs in the middle 70s.
If you're a fan of the 80s, good news! By Sunday temperatures will rebound to near 80 degrees with highs bouncing back to the mid-upper 80s for at least the first half of next week. During that time a few record high temperatures may also be in jeopardy.
Record heat or not, it appears as though the short-lived Florida winter temperatures are now behind us and the warmth is here to stay for a while.
