Bay area avoids major freeze, for now

Clouds moving off the Gulf of Mexico may have provided just enough insulation overnight to keep temperatures from falling as far and as fast as forecasters expected.

The clouds also may have been a break for strawberry farmers who spent Saturday night watching the thermometer and preparing to turn on sprinklers if temperatures reached freezing.

Readings from airports and agricultural weather stations showed that portions of eastern Hillsborough stayed just above 32 degrees with lows at Balm and Dover bottoming out at 34.

The temperature at Tampa Executive Airport in Hillsborough hit 32, the coldest temperature at an official weather station in Hillsborough.

Clouds can act as a blanket overnight that keep heat from radiating from the ground and prevent temperatures from dropping as much as they would under clear skies.

Computer models predicted the clouds would move farther south, later and less thick, said Charlie Paxton, National Weather Service meteorologist in Ruskin.

The clouds came from the coast of Mexico and Texas faster than expected, Paxton said. A few started showing up around midnight and the heavier layer arrived about 4 a.m.

"Another couple of hours and it would have been much colder," Paxton said.

The clouds even offered protection for areas north of the Tampa Bay area.

An agricultural weather station north of Brooksville reached 30 degrees.

But the airport in Brooksville where the weather service predicted a hard freeze with temperatures falling below 32 for hours stayed just above freezing at 33 degrees.

Lakeland was even warmer with the lowest temperature of 36.

The sun isn't going to do much to warm things up today. The slug of Canadian cold air that's flowing over the state will keep the afternoon temperatures in the 50s around the Tampa Bay area and 40s farther north.

If clouds let berry growers escape freezing temperatures this morning, they may not get the same break over the next three nights as more and more cold air filters into the state with high pressure a persistent presence.

The freeze threat will remain in place through Thursday morning.

In fact, forecasters believe tonight and Monday morning could be the coldest yet in Hillsborough with expected lows ranging from 29 around Tampa to 27 in Plant City and 21 in Brooksville.

The clouds that still stretch across the Gulf will again determine just how cold things get.
"If those are over us as we go into darkness hours, it will have a major impact," Paxton said.

Cold weather shelters will open tonight, Sunday, Jan. 3, for the homeless and those who live in homes without adequate heat.