TAMPA (WFLA) – A blast of frigid air is barreling through the Southeast this weekend and will make for one of the coldest weekends we’ve seen in years, complete with a possible inland freeze.
Here’s what to expect with this wild swing in temperatures.
FRIDAY: Mostly cloudy and temperatures warm into the comfortable upper 60s for the afternoon.
LATE FRIDAY: From evening into the overnight hours on Friday we will see scattered, light showers moving across our area from the north and west. The rain will not amount to much in terms of accumulation and should end shortly after midnight. Then comes the cold air behind the rain.
EARLY SATURDAY (3-6 a.m.) The winds will start to build out of the north-northwest. By 9 a.m., they are in the 10-15 mph range and gusts are closer to 20 mph.
SATURDAY MORNING: We start off cloudy, with the possibility of damp lawns from the light overnight showers. The skies will clear out during the late morning hours and sunshine is expected by the afternoon. Temperatures start off chilly and never really warm up. We wake up in the mid- to upper 40s and never warm up much past the upper 40s. The winds during the day will be significant, sustained around 15 mph with gusts between 20-25 mph. The winds will make if feel 5 to 10 degrees chillier than it actually is, so the Gasparilla Parade will most likely feel like the low to mid-40s out in the wind at the warmest points of the day. The winds will also make it rough and very choppy out of the water on Saturday.
SATURDAY NIGHT: The winds begin to fade between 5-7 p.m. Expect clear skies and frigid temperatures overnight. Temperatures dive into the 30s overnight, with subfreezing temperatures possible to the east of I-75. A Freeze Warning may be issued for inland and northern counties for early Sunday morning. Overnight lows to the east of I-75 will range between 28-32°, with 2-4 hours below freezing possible. Overnight lows to the west of I-74 will range between 32-38 degrees, with the possibility of brushing freezing for an hour or two.
SUNDAY: We climb above freezing by 9 a.m., under mostly sunny skies. Temperatures will warm up into the mid-50s for the afternoon and will feel much better than Saturday with much lighter winds, out of the northwest between 5-10 mph.
SUNDAY NIGHT: It will be clear and cold with temperatures diving into the upper 30s and low 40s for most areas. The Nature Coast may dip down close to freezing again and frost is likely in these areas.
MONDAY: We begin warming back up, reaching the low 60s under mostly sunny skies. After that, we head into the comfortable 70s for the rest of the week.
