Tampa Bay weather: Rain late Wednesday followed by cool temps, warm-up for Gasparilla

Thunderstorms that are cruising ahead of a cold front may bring some harsh weather to the Nature Coast and some weaker showers to Tampa Bay late Wednesday followed by a cooldown that will last through most of the rest of the week.

Areas north of Pasco County will see storms beginning in the early evening on Wednesday. As the cold front pushes south, the storms will lose steam as they enter the Tampa Bay area.

“The front is going to come down with the showers and storms, but they’re just going to be weakening,” Stephen Shiveley, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service, said. “And that’s why definitely the severe weather is more up north than it is down here (in Tampa Bay).”

There could be some lingering showers overnight in the Tampa Bay area behind the weather system, Shiveley said. Tampa Bay will feel a touch cooler after the front passes through.

The Weather Service is predicting a high in the mid-60s on Thursday and a low in the mid-40s in Tampa. Friday will be slightly cooler.

The cool air will stick around on Saturday morning, but temperatures will quickly warm up to the low 70s by the afternoon — just in time for the Gasparilla parade on Bayshore Boulevard.

“At least right now, it looks like really nice weather for Saturday,” Shiveley said.