ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — After a string of days with warmer-than-normal temperatures, Tampa Bay is in store for an up-and-down week of rising and falling temperatures.
An early-morning cold front brought a line of showers and storms to Tampa Bay early Monday morning, but now cooler air has already started to push in from the north. As high pressure builds in from the southern Plains, the northerly wind will keep temperatures in the mid-upper 60s Monday afternoon despite partly cloudy skies.
It'll also be a little breezy Monday afternoon as the cooler air builds in. Winds will be generally out of the north-northwest from 10-15 mph, gusting to 20 mph at times.
Skies will remain partly cloudy tonight as temperatures gradually cool into the upper 40s to nearly 50 degrees. The good news is that this early-week bout of cooler temperatures will not last long as the center of high pressure quickly tracks east shifting our winds to the east and southeast for Tuesday.
Temperatures begin to climb
This shift in flow will allow temperatures to rebound quickly on Tuesday with highs in the middle 70s Tuesday afternoon. That said, it'll remain a little breezy Tuesday with winds around 10-15 mph.
By Wednesday, another storm system will develop out of the central Plains. Ahead of this storm system, winds will shift out of the south and send temperatures to near 80 degrees Wednesday afternoon. Not only will Wednesday be warmer, but it'll also be windy with those southerly winds increasing to 15-20 mph and likely gusting up to 30-35 mph.
The next system arrives
By Wednesday evening, a line of showers and storms will develop ahead of the approaching cold front. The chance of rain in Tampa Bay looks best into the overnight Wednesday night.
The cold front will be south of Tampa Bay into Thursday morning, which will mean another round of cooler air will pump into the region all day. Temperatures Thursday will likely be in the low 60s through the morning before cooling into the 50s by Thursday afternoon.
By Friday morning temperatures will dip into the middle 40s across Tampa Bay with some 30s to the north. High temperatures Friday afternoon will be in the low 60s with mostly sunny skies.
Warming for the weekend
It'll be another chilly morning Saturday with lows returning to the 40s if not some 30s in areas north and inland. As high pressure continues to take hold of the area sunshine will be in full effect for all of the events around the area this weekend from Gasparilla in Tampa to the Kumquat Festival in Dade City.
This sunshine will help temperatures warm back to nearly 70 degrees Saturday afternoon.
The warmth will continue to increase through the second half of the weekend with high temperatures Sunday afternoon in the mid-upper 70s. The normal low and high temperature for late January is 53 and 71 degrees respectively.
