Severe Weather

Severe weather isn’t out of the ordinary for Tampa Bay. This page collects information from various sources to provide a “situational awareness” into the current weather conditions.

SKYWARN^®

The purpose of the SKYWARN^® program in Pinellas County Florida is to provide the National Weather Service (NWS) Forecast Office at Tampa Bay with timely and accurate reports of severe weather phenomena so that a timely warning can be issued to the public of dangerous weather conditions that include tornadoes, hail, flooding, and damaging thunderstorm winds.

Detailed information about SKYWARN^® operations in Pinellas County can be found in the Pinellas County ACS/ARES^® SKYWARN^® Operations Plan and Standard Operating Procedures document.

Current Pinellas County Severe Weather Alerts

Rip Current Statement issued April 13 at 3:25AM EDT until April 13 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
from NWS

* WHAT...Dangerous rip currents. * WHERE...Pinellas, Coastal Hillsborough, Coastal Manatee, Coastal Sarasota, Coastal Charlotte and Coastal Lee Counties. * WHEN...Through this evening. * IMPACTS...Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water. [...]

Sat, Apr 13, 2024, Continue reading at the source

Rip Current Statement issued April 12 at 8:10PM EDT until April 13 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
from NWS

* WHAT...Dangerous rip currents. * WHERE...Pinellas, Coastal Hillsborough, Coastal Manatee, Coastal Sarasota, Coastal Charlotte and Coastal Lee Counties. * WHEN...Through Saturday evening. * IMPACTS...Rip currents can sweep even the best swimmers away from shore into deeper water. [...]

Fri, Apr 12, 2024, Continue reading at the source

High Surf Advisory issued April 12 at 2:51PM EDT until April 12 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
from NWS

* WHAT...For the High Rip Current Risk, dangerous rip currents. For the High Surf Advisory, large breaking waves of 5 feet or larger. * WHERE...Pinellas, Coastal Hillsborough, Coastal Manatee, Coastal Sarasota, Coastal Charlotte and Coastal Lee Counties. * WHEN...For the High Rip Current Risk, through Saturday evening. For the High Surf Advisory, until 8 PM EDT [...]

Fri, Apr 12, 2024, Continue reading at the source

Rip Current Statement issued April 12 at 2:51PM EDT until April 13 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
from NWS

Fri, Apr 12, 2024, Continue reading at the source

High Surf Advisory issued April 12 at 3:40AM EDT until April 12 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
from NWS

Fri, Apr 12, 2024, Continue reading at the source

Rip Current Statement issued April 12 at 3:40AM EDT until April 13 at 8:00PM EDT by NWS Tampa Bay Ruskin FL
from NWS

Fri, Apr 12, 2024, Continue reading at the source

Please be sure to check the NWS Tampa Bay Graphical Hazardous Weather Outlook daily. It’s an extremely useful to check daily. It presents a graphical view of likelihood of various types of severe weather. If you have a weather radio, Pinellas is covered by two transmitters and Pinellas has a “Specific Area Message Encoding” (SAME code) of 012103.

Largo Marine – 162.450 MHz
Tampa Bay – 162.550 MHz

National Weather Service Storm Prediction Center’s Latest Content

SPC MD 489

MD 0489 CONCERNING SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WATCH 128... FOR PORTIONS OF CENTRAL TEXAS Mesoscale Discussion 0489 NWS Storm Prediction Center Norman OK 0637 PM CDT Thu Apr 18 2024 Areas affected...Portions of central Texas Concerning...Severe Thunderstorm Watch 128... Valid 182337Z - 190100Z The severe weather threat for Severe Thunderstorm Watch [...]