Suncoast Stormwatch

Locally,  we'll have temperatures in the 60s to start the week, and then in the second half of the week, we should see things warm into the 70s. Beyond that, it looks like temps will drop back down into the the 60s.

There will also be a chance for rain each day, with tomorrow and Tuesday seeing the best chances.

Care should be taken with the forecast more than a week out, so be sure to watch for updates to the forecast.

Now for a recap of NWS Tallahassee's Weather Fest 2010:

The Weather Fest started off at 10am, with events scheduled throughout the day. I was on the campus of Florida State University, because that's where NWS Tallahassee is located. 

There were booths set up in the parking lot, along with a few demonstrations.

One, in particular, which was for was for CoCoRaHS, which stands for Community Collaborative Rain, Hail and Snow Network, had participants throw water balloons at a target. The water would fall into a rain gauge, and the demonstrator would then show the person throwing the water balloon how to properly measure rainfall. CoCoRaHS is a national network of volunteer observers who report the daily rainfall at a specified time. They are hoping to have 20,000 active observers by the end of this year.

Other events included a talk about El Nino and it's impact on the Southeast, an extremely interesting talk about climate change and Climategate, a severe weather simulation of the Enterprise, Alabama tornado from 2007, and another extremely interesting talk about the history of people trying to control the weather, among other things. 

 The weather this week willl be comfortable, with temperatures in low to mid 60s for the first half of the week, and then 70s for the second half of the week.

As a reminder, Florida's Severe Weather Awareness Week 2010 started today and lasts through the 30th. Tomorrow, in Brooksville, there is going to be a severe weather preparedness seminar at the Emergency Operations Center. More Info

After the cold week we just had, I'm glad to say that it is warming back up.

The weather should straighten itself out this week, with temperatures in the low to mid 70s, and a chance of rain in the middle of the week.

Two events I think I should mention:

Florida's Severe Weather Awareness Week is coming January 24th through the 30th.
Click Here For Guide

As part of the activites during the week, there is going to be a severe weather preparedness seminar at the Emergency Operations Center in Brooksville.
More Info

No, I'm not making this up.

There was a mixture of snow/sleet in West Central Florida late last night and early this morning as a small amount of moisture moved into the area along with dropping temperatures.

We haven't had snow or sleet in West Central Florida since 1996, and it hasn't  snowed in the Tampa area since  January 17, 1977, when WTVT meteorologist Roy Leep was the only local Tampa area meteorologist to predict that it would snow. Tampa had a reported snowfall of .2 inches that day.

We've also seen a few temperature records broken this week across the area. Back in December, we were complaining about record warmth, and now we're going to have near record cold over the weekend. Compared with the winter weather woes of Europe, we really don't have much to complain about. The situation could be much worse.

The forecast for this weekend calls for near record temps again. Next week though, it looks like things should start to warm back up. We could be back to normal by the middle of the week.

Here are some pictures of the sleet that I took at my house. (It was on the roof and car)

Residents of West Central Florida are experiencing something we don't get to feel too often: cold weather.
With the cold front that has swept into the area comes more winter weather (no snow, unfortunately, just cold temperatures and maybe some frost in the mornings. Some of you may be a little dismayed about that.)

 Daytime temps will hover in the low to mid 50s. At night, expect the temperature to drop into the 20s or 30s, depending on your location. Thursday, it should slowly start to warm back up.

If you don't already know, we are going to have some pretty cold air move into the area next week.

We'll see dry but sunny conditions along with the frigidly cold air.  
Night-time temps will be down in the low to mid 20s, with daytime temps in the low 50s.
Welcome to 2010 everybody. The Weekly Update will be posted Sunday.