Latest news with #JeffBerardelli
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Climate
- Yahoo
May sets astonishing heat record in Tampa
Jeff Berardelli is WFLA's Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA)—It was the second warmest May on record in Tampa. Impressive, but not astonishing. What is astonishing is that Tampa broke its record for the all-time warmest May morning – not just once, but four times! Technically, it is known as the 'record warm minimum'. Records have been kept in Tampa since 1890, and the warmest morning low in those 130+ years has been 79 degrees. But in May 2025, Tampa stayed at or above the 80-degree mark on four mornings. On May 29th, the temperature never fell below 81. The meteorological reason for this is that the Gulf has been abnormally warm this May, in part due to a relatively dry, sunny May under high pressure and light winds. The end of May featured eastern Gulf temperatures 5 to 7 degrees F above normal. Also, the Bay Area has had onshore flow from the Gulf in late May. This aided in pushing Tampa's wake-up temperatures to unseen heights. But warmer mornings are not a new phenomenon. Morning lows have been trending up for decades. It's even more remarkable when you dig deeper into the numbers for May. 29 out of the 31 record warm minimum temperatures have occurred since the year 2000 – that's 94%. Remember, records have been kept since 1890. The obvious culprit for this is human-caused climate change. This encompasses both urbanization and the greenhouse effect due to carbon pollution from the burning of fossil fuels. Overall, since 1970, Tampa has warmed 4.3 degrees Fahrenheit. That's a lot! While both daytime and morning temperatures are rising, it is the morning lows that are rising faster. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
28-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Surviving the storm: A look back at 2024's wild hurricane season
Jeff Berardelli is WFLA's Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Most years we say it could happen here. In 2024, it did. The worst storms were Helene and Milton. Two storms just 13 days apart. They were very different hurricanes, devastating different parts of Tampa Bay. Helene organized into a tropical storm on Sept. 25 and set a course that skirted Florida's west coast. By the next day, it was a category 4 hurricane just 100 miles off Pinellas County. Florida lawmakers pass hurricane bill amid restriction fears Just after 11 p.m., it made landfall near Perry, still a category 4 with punishing 140 mph winds — the strongest landfall in the Big Bend since record-keeping began. Small communities like Cedar Key were battered with wind and 10 feet of surge. One in four homes in Cedar Key were destroyed. With Helene's core so far offshore, many Tampa Bay residents were shocked as coastal communities were inundated by the highest surge in 100 years. As seen in the below image, several feet of water pushed into homes. Helene ended up being the deadliest hurricane to hit the U.S. since Katrina. Although most of its casualties were not in Florida. As the storm swept into the Southeastern U.S., it delivered an astonishing amount of rain to the southern Appalachian Mountains. Up to 30 inches of rain slammed the mountains, triggering landslides that swept into the valleys, swelling rivers, and washing away entire communities. Then, just days later, the next threat emerged: Hurricane Milton. It started with a tropical depression on Oct. 5, then a hurricane on Oct. 6, rapidly intensifying to category 5 on Oct. 7. Milton was one of the strongest hurricanes ever recorded in the Atlantic Basin, and although it weakened as it approached Florida, it still made landfall as a major category 3. Milton's landfall at Siesta Key around 8:30 p.m. on Oct. 9 followed tense hours of watching every wobble on the Max Defender 8 Wobble Tracker. A slight jog to the north would have brought the storm's intense south-side winds into Tampa Bay, powering a worst-case-scenario surge event unlike anything we've experienced in centuries. Instead, Milton went just far enough south for its winds to push water out of Tampa Bay. But the surge to the south was severe, reaching 10 feet at Manasota Key. Milton's biggest impact on Tampa Bay was torrential rain and a prolonged flood event in Pinellas, Hillsborough, and especially along the Withlacoochee River. In all, 27 people lost their lives to Hurricane Milton, all of them, in Florida. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Sweltering: Tampa sees warmest May morning on record
Jeff Berardelli is WFLA's Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Thursday morning's weather was so tropically warm and humid that it registered the warmest May morning ever recorded in Tampa. The thermometer never fell below 80 degrees, breaking the record for the highest minimum temperature at Tampa Airport since records have been kept in 1890. NOAA predicts above average 2025 hurricane season: Here's how many storms we could see This broke the daily record of 77 and the monthly record of 79. It's not coincidence, it's climate change. A Climate Shift Index analysis (from Climate Central) on Thursday morning's low temperatures across Florida showed that climate change made the warm temperatures at least five times more likely. But this is not a one-day thing. An analysis by WFLA shows that around 80% of the record warm morning lows in Tampa have occurred since the year 2000. Climate change is not only making the air warmer, but also the sea surface temperatures in the oceans and Gulf. The result of this is more humidity and warmer starts to the day, especially near the water. Slightly lower humidity has settled into Tampa Bay for the next 48 hours, so that means low temperatures will be slightly lower and more comfortable the next two days. But the humidity and heat will return for the second half of the holiday weekend. That means daytime heat index numbers near 105. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
