Florida Will See The Coldest AND Warmest Temperatures of the Year This Week

It's been a weird winter for weather in the Tampa area. Drastic temperature swings have had us reaching for a jacket one day and bathing suit the next. The temperature rollercoaster is really going to dive and climb in this next week though. We'll see the coldest temperatures and the warmest temperatures of 2024... within a few days of each other.

The temperature plummet is up first. The National Weather Service tweeted this morning that there's a 30-40% chance of temperatures dropping below freezing tonight along the Nature Coast. That chance of freezing temps percentage climbs to 90-100% tomorrow night. Even worse, some of the northern counties of the Tampa area could get wind chills that will feel like the TEENS! As cold as we're going to get this weekend, it could be much worse of course. Many of the northern states might not even hit ZERO!

Then the Florida temperature rollercoaster goes back UP next week. On Monday, temps will rebound to a pleasant 70 degrees. That won't last though. By Wednesday and Thursday, we'll actually have beach weather in January. Temperatures are expected to top out near 80 degrees both days.

There is some good news to share about the wet weather lately. Denis Phillips from ABC Action News reports that the El Nino weather we've had over the past few weeks has helped a lot. Denis says most of the Tampa area is no longer under any type of drought conditions.

By the way, it was 47 years ago today the Tampa area actually got a decent amount of snow. Paul Dellegatto from Fox 13 shared these photos this morning from the snowfall in Tampa on January 19, 1977.

Were you brushing the snow off your car on this day back in 1977?

Two inches of snow were recorded in the Tampa area, according to Channel 10. It hasn't happened since. And hopefully it won't anytime soon. While I know lifelong Floridians find snow to be romantic and picturesque, for us transplants, it triggers bad memories of being wet and cold, shoveling and slipping.

It's said that there were over 200 accidents on the roads that day. Two of those crashes involved school buses, which shocks me. I'd think classes at all schools would have been called off that day. Two inches of snow isn't a lot to those familiar with driving in snow, but it's not like Floridians are used to driving in winter weather.

79 ended up in the hospital just in Hillsborough County, according to news reports. Fortunately none of the kids in those school buses were among those hurt. Drivers were ok too according to Tampa Bay Times reports.

Not surprisingly, many lost power. Power lines were knocked down all over the area. Trees and crops didn't fare well either.

While we won't get any snow this weekend, temperatures are going to take a nosedive. In fact, temperatures will be cold enough this weekend for snow. But none is in the forecast. [Sources: Tampa Bay Times, Channel 10]

When you live in the north, you always keep a brush or a broom in your car for days like this. This was definitely brushable snow on that day. But I liked this strategy better, commemorate the moment and write on your car windshield. I like how the car on the left even put the year on it, knowing we'd be looking back for years to come. We're still talking about this storm almost 50 years later.

Just looking at this brings back so many awful memories of when I lived up north. I grew up in Maine and spent most of my adult living in the Boston area. So many mornings were spent like this having to get up extra early to shovel a path from your parking spot to the road, scraping ice off the windshield and getting all the snow off the car. by the time you got where you were going, you were cold, miserable and wet. I can't help but wonder what Floridians used that day to scrape ice off the glass. It's not like we carry scrapers.

One Twitter user who commented on this photo mentioned that teachers wanted kids to stay inside that day. Kids weren't having it of course. The teachers got overruled. Gotta make those snow angels before it melts. And it was definitely a Kodak moment for families. Hopefully they had film in the camera. Couldn't just snap a photo with your phone back in those days.

Apparently even Orlando got in on the action. They didn't seem to get as much snow as the Tampa area did judging by this photo. I was really blown away to read that even Miami had flurries that day.

How do bulls handle snow? I have to imagine classes were cancelled at USF that day. I love the story in this tweet. A USF prankster ran an ad for snow gear and then January 19, 1977 happened.

Check out the homepage, excuse me homepages didn't exist yet. Here's the front page of The Ledger showing the Lakeland World Citrus Center getting "pelted" with snow. The storm definitely hurt the citrus growers that year. The cold temperatures were felt all around the country that week. But those in the northern states see cold weather as no big deal. Floridians whose livelihoods depend on citrus crops however definitely felt the impact.