Dry season Ĭoconut palms at the Gizella Kopsick Palm Arboretum in northeast St. TECO Energy, Tampa's electric utility, spends over millions of dollars annually to repair transformers and other equipment damaged by lightning strikes. Uman has calculated that the average resident is within a half-mile of 10 to 15 lightning strikes every year. University of Florida lightning expert Martin A. Įvery year, Florida averages 10 deaths and 30 injuries from lightning strikes, with several of these usually occurring in or around Tampa. However, there are few thunderstorms in the Tampa Bay area from approximately October to May, decreasing the yearly average. During the summer, west-central Florida receives as much lightning as the world's true lightning leaders such as the Lake Victoria region of Africa and the central Amazon River Basin. Though the Tampa Bay area is sometimes referred to as the 'Lightning Capital of the World', it is more accurately called the “Lightning Capital of North America” if measured by average number of days with thunderstorm activity per year. Waterspouts are relatively common in Tampa Bay and off the gulf coast during strong summer thunderstorms, occasionally moving onshore as a short-lived tornado. While Florida does rank #1 in the US in terms of tornadoes per square mile, the majority of the twisters are small, weak, and short-lived. At times, these storms can grow severe, bringing damaging winds, small hail, and torrential rain, and an occasional tornado. Afternoon storms are usually followed by a pleasantly clear and cooler evening, while morning storms usually bring very high humidity levels and a chance for more rain in the afternoon. Summer thunderstorms typically bring brief periods of heavy rain and gusty winds with frequent cloud-to-ground lightning. If the prevailing winds are from the west or southwest, these storms can push ashore into the Tampa Bay area in the morning and move inland, reversing the more common pattern. Occasionally, storms form offshore overnight along the land-breeze front which is the dermal counterpart of the daytime sea-breeze front. Stronger storm cells often survive to move out over the Gulf of Mexico, where they can be seen from the beaches as spectacular nighttime lightning shows. Usually, the resulting storms drift slowly westward to the bay area, though they may rain themselves out before reaching Tampa if the easterly winds are light or the sea breeze from the Gulf of Mexico is too strong. The typical summer weather pattern is for heat-produced thermals, powered by either the Gulf or Atlantic sea breeze (and occasionally both simultaneously), to build puffy white cumulus clouds into threatening thunderheads over the interior of the Florida peninsula. Day-to-day weather is remarkably consistent, with wet season average high and low temperatures usually only about five degrees above or below the record highs and lows. Seasonal high temperatures average about 90s ☏ (around 32 ☌) and lows in the mid-70s ☏ (around 24 ☌), accompanied by high humidity and an almost daily chance of thunderstorms, especially in the afternoon. The hot and wet season begins in May and lasts through October. Ĭumulus clouds building over the Tampa Convention Center on a summer afternoon In general, the local communities farthest from the coast have larger temperature ranges, both during a single day and throughout the seasons of the year. This proximity to large bodies of water both moderates temperatures and introduces large amounts of humidity into the atmosphere. Pinellas County lies on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, and much of the city of Tampa lies on a smaller peninsula jutting out into Tampa Bay. Petersburg's all-time record high is exactly 100 ☏ (38 ☌). Tampa's official high has never reached 100 ☏ (38 ☌) – the city's all-time record temperature is 99 ☏ (37 ☌). Highs usually range between 65 and 95 ☏ (18–35 ☌) year round. The area is listed by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) as being in hardiness zone 9b as well as hardiness zone 10a just along the immediate coast and in peninsular Pinellas which is about the northern limit of where coconut palms and royal palms can be grown.

Nearly two-thirds of the annual precipitation falls in the months of June through September. There are two basic seasons in the Tampa Bay area, a hot and wet season from May through October, and a mild and dry season from November through April.

The Tampa Bay area has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen Cfa) near the waterfront areas.

39.5 temperature conversion