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Get Ready For Several Days Of Freezing Temperatures

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By RAY REYES

rreyes@tampatrib.com

Published: February 3, 2009

Enjoy today's relatively balmy conditions while you can because the rest of the week will be downright frigid.

By the time the sun sets tonight, the humidity will have been swept away by a cold, dry blast of Arctic air that will push temperatures down to the low 40s in coastal areas and in the 30s farther inland, forecasters say.

Temperatures are expected to hover in the low 50s throughout much of Wednesday, but the mercury will plummet that evening and into Thursday morning, said Ernie Jillson, a forecaster for the National Weather Service in Ruskin.

Before the drive to work on Thursday morning, commuters might have to scrape frost from their windshields, Jillson said.
Morning temperatures Thursday will be between 30 and 35 degrees for much of the Bay area, Jillson said, and communities east of Interstate 75 could be looking at the mid-20s. Eastern Pasco County could see lower 20s and Hernando County could drop to as low as the high teens.

Freezing temperatures will linger through Friday morning, with daytime highs this week not expected to get out of the 50s until Friday afternoon.

By Saturday, the cold air should be gone and the area is forecast to warm up nicely - probably in the low to mid-70s - by Saturday afternoon's Gasparilla parade.

The cold front started rolling in Monday, producing steady rain throughout the region. A mass of deep, low pressure with upper-level winds lingering over the eastern United States is funneling the frigid northern air to the south, Jillson said.

Reporter Neil Johnson contributed to this report.

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