Here's your Tampa area weather forecast for late Friday into Saturday and Sunday.

  • Hot weekend
  • Early week front
  • Rain chances next week

We were talking about the heat wave all week long and it came in right on cue, with numerous record highs across the region. The heat will stick with us through the weekend before some changes next week.

Skies will be hazy with partly cloudy to mostly clear conditions into early Saturday morning. There will be a small chance of a stray shower popping up, but that chance is very small.

Morning lows will again be muggy, not dropping past the upper 60s to mid 70s.

Saturday will be similar to the highs we saw Friday afternoon, but just a couple degrees lower. Highs will still get into the low to mid 90s, making it a hot day for this time of year.

The high pressure and wind direction are the responsible features. The high pressure is pushing down on the atmosphere, not allowing any clouds and storms to form. The wind direction from the southeast pushes the warmest air into our area, without allowing the cooling relief from the sea breeze off the gulf.
 
There might be just enough moisture to trigger an evening shower late Saturday, but there isn’t enough moisture to produce a lot of showers.
 
Sunday will wrap up the weekend almost exactly the same with highs in the low to mid 90s, but upper 80s close to the coast as the sea breeze will finally start pushing in from the gulf in the afternoon.  Skies will be mostly sunny, with only a tiny chance of an evening shower.
 
A front will arrive early next week with a rain chance and lower temperatures. A second front appears to be on the horizon at the end of next week that could be much stronger.