ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. -- Here's your Tampa area weather forecast for late Wednesday into Thursday morning, along with a look at conditions through the weekend. 

  • Decreasing rain coverage
  • Big pattern change ahead
  • Warmer weekend

The plume of moisture moved through the region right on cue today with numerous showers and storms. That’s now moving out, so any scattered showers will die down, leaving partly cloudy skies into early Thursday morning.

Lows will be in the low to mid 70s.

Thursday will be sunnier to start than what we saw today. We’ll start with a mix of sun and clouds with scattered storms developing from about mid-day into the afternoon.

As they form they will tend to drift inland through the afternoon, with most of them ending up east of I-75 by the evening. The rain coverage will be at 40 percent.

Due to more sunshine, high temperatures will get back to the upper 80s to low 90s.

The storms will wind down Thursday night, with clearing skies and lows in the low to mid 70s.

Friday will feature partly sunny skies with a 30 percent coverage of mainly afternoon scattered storms drifting inland, the best coverage ending up east of I-75. Highs Friday will be near 90.

This weekend will be much drier than we’ve seen in weeks, with tons of sunshine and only a small chance of a thunderstorm. Because of that we’ll have much more typical heat for this time of year with highs near 90 each day.

It will be cooler in coastal regions and hotter inland each day due to an onshore sea breeze. The water temperatures are still cool for this time of year, so there will be a refreshing breeze each day at the beach.

The rain coverage will only be at about 10 to 20 percent both Saturday and Sunday, with most of that east of I-75.

There will be a very rare cold front approaching on Monday. It’s hard to tell if it will actually move through or just stall out on top of us. Either way, that will give us a temporary bump in rain chances for Monday with it going up to 40 percent.

However, it looks like that will be brief as drier air returns behind the front Tuesday into Wednesday.

RIVER FLOODING:

Heavy rain over the past several days has caused rivers to rise across the area. Levels will need to be monitored closely the next few days as more rain is in the forecast.

Flood Warning for the Alafia River At Lithia:

* From late tonight until Saturday evening.

* At 10 a.m. Wednesday the stage was...10.3 feet.

* Minor flooding is forecast.

* Flood stage is 13.0 feet.

* The river is forecast to rise above flood stage by early tomorrow and continue to rise to near 14.1 feet by early Friday morning. The river is expected to fall below flood stage by Saturday early  afternoon.

* Impact...at 15.0 feet...Additional residences downstream of State Road 640 bridge begin flooding.

* Impact...at 13.0 feet...River Drive and Squirrel Run Way downstream of State Road 640 are completely covered by water. One home begins to flood.

* Impact...at 12.0 feet...Water begins to affect River Drive and Squirrel Run Way downstream of State Road 640.

The Flood Warning continues for the Myakka River At Myakka River State Park:

* Until further notice.

* At 10 a.m. Wednesday the stage was 7.1 feet.

* Minor flooding is occurring and Minor flooding is forecast.

* Flood stage is 7.0 feet.

* The river will continue rising to near 7.1 feet by tomorrow morning then begin falling.

* Impact...at 8.0 feet...The main road at Myakka State Park floods.

* Impact...at 7.0 feet...Trails, picnic areas, and parking lots at Myakka State Park flood.

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The seven-day forecast