A cold front is heading toward Tampa Bay today and a couple of more rounds of showers and thunderstorms can be expected.
The timing brings the storms to the area from 6 a.m. to 9 a.m., though northern west coast counties could see some impacts as early as 5 a.m. For southern counties, the window shifts to 7-10 a.m.
A squall line is expected to develop out ahead of the front and sweep through our region before daybreak. The trailing cold front follows and will keep a rain and storm threat through around midday Thursday.
Some strong winds and brief heavy rainfall can be expected through around sunrise. A large area of showers with quite a few clouds will continue over much of the area through the morning then begins to clear from northwest to southeast in the afternoon.
Winds on the Gulf will increase enough from the west and northwest to create a high risk of rip currents.
Our primary concerns with any storm that does become severe will be strong, potentially damaging winds. We also can't rule out the threat for a waterspout or tornado to develop.
But, this is not just a "one time" deal. Future models are indicating a second round may develop in the late morning/early afternoon hours, before the front pushes through the region.
Many times, secondary rounds aren't quite as intense or widespread because the atmospheric conditions have time to "cool down" as it cranks out most of its energy with the initial round.
Regardless, the timing window below is relatively broad to account for the multiple rounds of rain and storms we could see in the area.
Stay tuned with the 10Weather team Wednesday night through Thursday as we monitor every development and change.
The good news? Cooler and drier air moves in for a beautiful Friday, followed by more sun and gradual warming into the weekend.
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