Winter makes a cold call on Tampa Bay area

The first day of winter brought a dose of the season with the chilliest temperatures recorded in the Tampa Bay area since the end of summer.

For most of the people heading out in Tampa, a light wind made the low 40s feel more like 38 degrees or so, but things warmed a bit into the mid-40s by midmorning.

The National Weather Service expects the high today to be in the low 60s. That's about a 20-degree increase from the morning low of 42 at Tampa International Airport.

Things will be a bit chillier in eastern Hillsborough County, where the wind will make the air feel like 30 degrees as noon approaches.

The weather service's low in Plant City was 39 this morning, and forecasters don't expect temperatures to fall enough to harm strawberry crops.

In Brooksville, where the wind chill will make things feel like the low 20s until midmorning, the temperature overnight bottomed out at 36.

High clouds moving off the Gulf of Mexico provided enough of a blanket to keep temperatures from dropping as low as forecasters expected. The weather service said Sunday that the cloud cover would determine the morning's lows.

Tonight could be as cold, or slightly colder, the weather service says.

A freeze watch is still in place for Hernando County north, where forecasters say the low could drop to the high 20s. If forecasts hold, the freeze watch could become a warning.

Just how cold it gets again depends on how much cloud cover comes off the Gulf. There is ample moisture to create clouds from the Tampa Bay area south, the weather service said. Forecasters don't expect Tuesday's low to approach the Tampa record of 30, set Dec. 22, 1901.

There's a chance for some patchy frost in areas protected from the wind that normally get cold.

If the clouds spread north, temperatures from Hillsborough north won't drop as far and fast as forecaster expect.

If the clouds disappear, temperatures overnight will go down quickly.

Automated weather stations in agricultural areas today measured lows of 37 in Balm and 38 in Dover, while one in northern Hernando County recorded a low this morning of 32.

Of nearly 40 weather service locations around Florida, Crestview in the Panhandle was the coldest at 26 degrees, with Tallahassee the next chilliest at 32. The other locations all remained above freezing.

A warming trend will start moving in Tuesday afternoon, and forecasters expect temperatures to rise to the mid-70s by Friday.

However, an approaching front on Thursday and Friday morning bumps rain chances up slightly Thursday night and Friday morning with a better chance for rain north of Hillsborough County.

Forecasters don't expect the front to bring much in the way of thunderstorms or seriously cold weather for the weekend.