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It’s cold out there: Record lows recorded Tuesday
The demand for electricity surged, as people turned on their heaters for the first time since early spring.
Record lows were set Tuesday morning in most areas of west central Florida.
Lows plummeted down to 35 degrees in Brooksville, 36 in Winter Haven, 38 degrees in St. Petersburg, 39 in Tampa and 40 in Sarasota and Bradenton.
The National Weather Service in Ruskin was reporting wind chills blasting down to a freezing 23 degrees in Brooksville and 27 degrees in Lake Wales.
Tuesday’s highs were forecast to barely break out of the 50s, with a high of 60 forecast in Tampa, and 59 in St. Petersburg.
Lows recorded by the National Weather Service, Ruskin, Tuesday morning.
The demand for electricity surged, as people turned on their heaters for the first time since early spring.
As of 10 a.m., Duke Energy reported 117 households were without power in St. Petersburg; 37 in the Clearwater/Palm Harbor area; 29 in Tarpon Springs and New Port Richey; and 59 households in Hernando County around Brooksville.
Tampa Electric was reporting 136 outages in Hillsborough County, with about 44 concentrated in the Riverview area and 47 in south Tampa. Another 11 outages were reported around Bartow.
In Manatee County 52 outages were reported by Florida Power and Light as of 10 a.m. In Sarasota County, 194 outages were reported in the morning.
According to the NWS, lows for the Tampa Bay region will be in the mid 40s to low 50s Tuesday night into Wednesday morning. Wednesday’s forecast calls highs in the low 70s.
Steve Newborn covers the environment and politics in the Tampa Bay area for NPR affiliate WUSF.
