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Tampa Bay weather: More rain possible late Friday ahead of soggy weekend

Spectrum Bay News 9 forecasters say there is a 70% of rain Friday, 50% on Saturday and 80% on Sunday.
 
Spectrum Bay News 9 radar shows rain moving into the Tampa Bay area Friday morning.
Spectrum Bay News 9 radar shows rain moving into the Tampa Bay area Friday morning. [ Spectrum Bay News 9 ]
Published April 28, 2023|Updated April 28, 2023

A rainy morning in the Tampa Bay area has turned into a sunny afternoon in many of us, but more rain could be on its way later today as a preview of what is shaping up to be a pretty wet and windy weekend.

Forecasters at Spectrum Bay News 9, a coverage partner of the Tampa Bay Times, had expected a 70% chance of rain today. Rain chances will be 50% Saturday and shoot up to 80% on Sunday, forecasters said.

Today’s weather rain follows thunderstorms that moved through the area late Thursday night. Central Florida, including some eastern portions of the Tampa Bay area, experienced severe weather earlier this week, including hail.

Spectrum Bay News 9 forecasters said wind speeds from the overnight storms reached up to 67 mph in Brooksville, 59 mph in Clearwater, 54 mph in Tampa and 48 mph in St. Petersburg.

There were reports of downed trees from the rough weather.

The rain last night even had an impact during the Pat Benatar and Neil Giraldo show at Ruth Eckerd Hall. The electricity cut out while Benatar was singing.

”We just lost power for five minutes and the show continued without any troubles,” said Katie Pedretty, director of public relations at Ruth Eckerd Hall. ”I live about 15 minutes from here. There was a lot of rain and I did hear a lot of rumbles.”

“When the power went out – it was only the mics,” Pedretty added. “The theater lights stayed on – our production manager came out and was able to tell the audience that we were resetting the power and would be back up shortly - which happened in about five minutes.”

Conditions are expected to be windy today and through the weekend. Winds were whipping at about 25 mph on the Pinellas beaches Friday morning and a wind advisory was issued for the Sunshine Skyway bridge.

The Florida Highway Patrol closes the bridge when sustained winds reach 40 mph or higher.

High temperatures will be in the low 80s today, the mid-80s Saturday and the high 70s on Sunday.

Overnight lows will be in the low 70s, though overnight Sunday into Monday is expected to drop into the 60s and may even get into the 50s in northern areas of the Tampa Bay area.