TAMPA, Fla. – The standard summer pattern is locking into the Tampa Bay Area over the next seven days, bringing a mix of intense afternoon heat and shifting storm risks. Today kicks off the stretch with mostly sunny skies and a high near 95 degrees. By 2 p.m., a 40 percent chance of showers and thunderstorms will develop, while light winds shift to the south-southwest.
Anyone spending time outdoors can expect heat index values to climb as high as 103 degrees. As night falls, storm chances drop to 30 percent before 8 p.m., leaving partly cloudy skies and a low around 78 degrees.
The heat ticks up a notch on Saturday, with afternoon highs reaching near 96 degrees and the heat index hitting a weekly peak of 104 degrees. The afternoon storm probability rises to 50 percent, bringing a general expectation of a tenth to a quarter-inch of rain, though isolated thunderstorms could produce higher totals…