Tampa Bay freeze watch: What to expect
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After a chilly start to the week, temperatures are set to plummet even lower Thursday night into Friday morning.
State of play: A swath of inland Tampa Bay, including East Hillsborough and Manatee counties and all of Pasco County, will be under a freeze watch, with low temperatures in the 20s and low 30s, per the National Weather Service.
- Wind will push "feels like" temperatures even lower, Weather Service meteorologist Austen Flannery told Axios.
- Pinellas County and coastal Hillsborough are out of the watch area but will still see lows in the mid-30s and low 40s overnight Thursday. The chilliest temperatures will hit around sunrise Friday, Flannery said.
The latest: Pinellas will open cold shelters Thursday night throughout the county. Find a list here. The shelters will open at 6pm and close at 6am Friday.
- The Pinellas Suncoast Transit Authority will also waive fares from 5pm Thursday to 7am Friday for people going to and from shelters. Just let your bus driver know.
- Pasco will also open shelters at Shady Hills Mission Chapel and First Nazarene Church of Zephyrhills, per a county news release. They'll open at 6pm Thursday and Friday and close at 10am the following days.
The big picture: The culprit is a strong cold front moving through the area Wednesday night, bringing welcome showers to a parched region.
- But rainfall will only hit about half an inch, Flannery said, so "it won't really make a dent in the drought conditions."
What's next: It'll warm up this weekend before another cold front next week, Flannery said.
- By Monday morning, forecasts call for temperatures to dip into the low 30s inland and upper 30s in coastal areas.
The bottom line: Layer up and prep cold-sensitive plants and outdoor pipes for the potential freeze, Flannery said.