Tampa Bay's spring weather is getting warmer
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Spring is getting warmer overall and featuring more unusually hot days in much of the U.S., including Tampa Bay, a new analysis finds.
Why it matters: Warmer springs can cause early snowmelt, which can imperil summer water resources and heighten wildfire risks.
- Warmer springs can also worsen allergies, among other effects.
The big picture: Nonprofit climate research and communications organization Climate Central examined 55 years of U.S. temperature data for 241 cities and found that the meteorological spring season of March through May has warmed by a national average of 2.4°F.
- In an analysis released last week, the group found that 97% of the 241 cities analyzed saw a warming trend for the season.
The intrigue: As spring temperatures have increased, the average number of days with above-average temperatures also went up in 98% of the locations analyzed.
Zoom in: Between 1970 and 2024, spring in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties warmed by 3.6°, per the analysis.
- The Tampa area experienced an average of 37 more days with hotter-than-normal spring temperatures, Climate Central found. That's the second highest to El Paso's 39 days.
Between the lines: The spring warming in the U.S. is taking place in tandem with increasing temperatures around the world due to human emissions of greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels such as coal, oil and gas.