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Wet Windy Weather Across Tampa Bay

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By NEIL JOHNSON | The Tampa Tribune

Published: March 29, 2009

TAMPA - A squall line ahead of a cool front brought some valuable rain overnight, though the amount of rain hardly qualified as a deluge.

The line also brought something we haven't encountered much lately – thunder and flashes of lightning as a few thunderstorms arrived with the showers.

The threat of lightning prompted organizers to delay opening the gates at the MacDill AirFest today. Gates will open at 9 a.m. rather than the scheduled 8 a.m.

The show also will start an hour later with 9 a.m. events such as the radio controlled aircraft demonstration cancelled. Events scheduled for 10 a.m. will kick off the show.

Organizers do not want people on the flight line if lightning is within 5 miles of the base, the U.S. Air Force said in a release this morning.

Most of the rain and the threat of thunderstorms are expected to be gone around noon.

A gust of 37 mph was reported from a marine thunderstorm off Clearwater about 4:30 a.m.
The storms are moving east in a wall of clouds and showers across the coast from Hernando south to Charlotte counties.

Though widespread, the rain has been relatively light, between .1 or .25 of an inch except for the airport in Brooksville that received more than .5 of an inch between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m., and .2 of an inch before that.

Once the rain goes through today, drier air will move in and the National Weather Service warns that the threat of wildfires will increase again on Monday.

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