Longtime area weather forecaster Linda Gialanella has left Tampa ABC station WFTS-Ch. 28, departing Monday after her contract ended.

Gialanella hadn't been seen on air much since October, when the station moved morning forecaster Wayne Shattuck to weekend evenings -- a post she had filled for years. The change bumped Gialanella to fill-in work, appearances on the station's Web site and its secondary all-weather digital channel.

Staffers learned Tuesday that she had left the station in a memo released after her last day; executives said Gialanella requested the announcement be held until then. The forecaster has worked at many bay area TV stations, coming to the area in 1993 to work for WTSP-Ch. 10; later, she worked occasionally for Bay News 9 before settling in at WFTS in 2003.

Station general manager Rich Pegram also revealed WFTS's new weekend morning newscasts are slated to start April 4. But Pegram wasn't ready to announce who would be anchoring the newscast, saying the deals haven't yet been finalized.

The news comes as WFTS owner E.W. Scripps Co. seeks to reinvent its newsrooms and announced plans to cut salaries, suspend 401(k) contributions and freeze pensions to save $20 million this year.

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