Cold front brings scattered storms, cooler temps to Tampa Bay

Bands of scattered storms pushed through Tampa Bay on Monday morning and were expected to continue into the evening ahead of a cold front that will drop the mercury to below-average temperatures this week.

The band of storms moving south, from the Nature Coast to Charlotte Harbor, was expected to last until about 8 p.m. Monday, said Yidiana Zayas, a meteorologist with National Weather Service’s Tampa Bay office.

Rodney Wynn, another meteorologist with the weather service, said earlier Monday morning that there could be some damaging winds with the stronger storms, and even some possible hail or an isolated tornado.

However, by the afternoon, Zayas said the strongest wind gusts in Tampa Bay had peaked at about 25 mph. The more severe weather was likely to impact south of Tampa Bay, Zayas said.

A tornado warning was in effect for parts of Sarasota and Hernando counties before noon on Monday.

Spectrum Bay News 9 meteorologist Josh Linker expected most of the energy producing the stronger storms would shift east as the front moved south.

“With that said, we’re still looking for repeated showers along with a few stronger thunderstorms, but the chance for severe weather is really, really low around our area,” Linker said in a Monday morning forecast posted to Bay News 9′s website.

The storms were expected to leave cooler air in their wake.

High temperatures remained in the mid-70s Monday to the north and near 80 to the south in Tampa Bay. Tuesday’s high temperatures will be in the low 70s across the area with lows in the 50s, according to the weather service.

On Wednesday, the highs will again be in the low 70s, and lows will drop to the low 50s near the coast and the 40s in inland areas, according to the weather service.

To the north of the area, temperatures could dip into the 30s, Linker said.

By the end of the week, temperatures will tick up once again to the upper 70s. If you’re looking to get outside this week, the rest of the week will be mostly dry. However, when the weekend rolls around, rain chances jump up to 70% in Tampa, according to the National Weather Service.

Over the past few weeks, temperatures have been scorching as a prolonged period of high pressure sitting over Florida stopped any cold fronts from reaching the area.

Average temperatures this time of year are in the high 70s in Tampa.