Winter in Tampa (Christmas: live in, car, electric)

[poots]

We are curious as to what winter is like in Tampa.

Normally we have mild winters here in Oklahoma, but for the past 2 years, our winters were crazy. We had icestorms and everything else that follows.

Seeing that Tampa is further down south, what is the average high and low during the winter months?

[Nav]

You may occasionally dip into the 40's or 50's in late November/December, but average temps are likely to be in the 70's. In January/February, you may dip below freezing overnights with a few days hovering in below the 50's. Then again its not uncommon to have temps in the 70's/80's for days on end. You wont find snow if thats what you are worrying about. Winter typically ends in late February. March and April are usually "good" months where you can still leave the windows open some of the time. April through late October are the "Summer" months where it could stay in the 90's with ultra high humidity. This is when the mosquitoes are out in force and people pretty much live inside with the A/C on.

Nav

[poots]

Perfect winter for us. We don't mind the occasional 40's but here we've dealt with highs below freezing and wind chills in the negatives. So I'm happy for that kind of winter. That's pretty warm for me. As for the summers, I can deal witht he 90's, being that Tampa has water near, it shouldn't be that bad. Summers in Oklahoma is sick. The air you breathe is so hot, that you don't want to go outside. Plus, we are originally from Guam, so we know all about humidity. Thanks so much for the info. I look forward to a great winter in Tampa.

[Keeper]

I have lived in OKC and I do agree with you about summer. It is more humid in Tampa during the summer

Every 10 years or so Tampa might get a couple of weeks of low temps. I only remember 1 time when it was REALLY cold and that was Christmas week the temps were down in the low teens. Many ppl had no electric for a week.

I agree Jan and Feb are usually the coldest and wettest.

[NatureCoastFL]

Ah, winters in tampa. Depending on exactly where you live, you can experience way different temps. Pinellas county (st pete, clearwater, largo etc...) is usually the warmest, due to having water on 3 sides. Rarely, and I mean rarely, does it ever get to freezing there. Christmas of 83 and 89 it did. If your near the tampa airport, it will be cooler than pinellas, and usually tampa will flirt with freezing once or twice a winter. Now once you start going away from the big cities, the outlying areas will always be colder at night during the winter. Up here on the nature coast, we have already hit freezing twice and in a typical winter will get frost/ice on car about 10-12 times a year.

In general for highs, we average about 4-6 days where the high temp will be below 60 degrees.

If you have never experienced a florida summer, I would advise spending at least a week here sometime in July when the heat and humidity are at its peak. It may be a nice change from your weather in OKC, but it does get old really quick.

As for the summers, yes it gets obnoxiously humid and hot, and it stays hot from april to october.

If you go to the NWS page for tampa, click on local climate, you can find tons of info on temps, weather, etc for the tampa bay area.

[poots]

Sounds great. Thanks again for the help.

[Tim Tim Tim]

you wont have any ice problems, thats for sure

[Nomadicus]

I live 60 miles east of Tampa and at most we use the windshield squirters 2-3 times a winter to get the frost off before driving off.

[MarketingGuy]

50/70's the average range.. frost every now and then.. and a few cold spells @ 20-30 degrees for a day or two, but thats it.

January/February seem to be chillier then Nov/Dec.

[bnepler]

The only "ice" we allow here is the ones in your drinks at 5 o'clock!!!