Tampa Bay Hits Record High Temperature On Friday
Tampa Bay hit a record-high temperature of 89 degrees Fahrenheit on Friday.
That record does come with a caveat, Bay News 9 meteorologist Brian McClure told the Tampa Bay Times — the Tampa International Airport gauge used to take the temperature is located in a “heat island” surrounded by concrete runways and planes coming and going. Other temperature gauges across the region read lower temperatures, he said.
The last record high was 88 degrees Fahrenheit in 1961, McClure said.
The warm temperature can be attributed to high pressure above the Tampa Bay area and an east wind that prevents cooler air from coming into the region from the Gulf, he said.
“It’s a pretty simple pattern,” McClure said. The warm weather is expected to continue through the weekend, he added, with temperatures cooling to highs in the low 80s next week because of southwest winds.
The record temperature is no cause for concern, McClure said — it’s very hard to attribute an individual, one-day weather event to climate change.
“Isolated record highs are very normal,” he said. “Climate is something that occurs over many years.”
