Map shows Florida cities hit new record heat: “Scorcher”

Several cities in southwest Florida broke records on Wednesday as the Sunshine State grapples with its first heat wave of the season.

Tampa broke its daily high temperature record at 97 degrees, according to the National Weather Service (NWS), breaking its previous high of 96 that was set on May 29, 2006. Records were also set in Sarasota-Bradenton, which got up to 96 degrees, and Winter Haven, which topped out at 99.

Punta Gorda tied its daily heat record of 98 degrees as well. The last time the city was that hot was in 2006 and 1945. Brooksville, Florida, also tied its daily record of 97 degrees.

WINK Chief Meteorologist Matt Devitt described the situation as a “scorcher” in a post to X, formerly Twitter, Wednesday afternoon, sharing a map of parts of southwest Florida that got near the 100s during the day.

The cities join over a dozen others in Florida that experienced record heat during the holiday weekend. Daily highs were reached in Miami (96), Orlando (97) West Palm Beach (95) and Fort Lauderdale (96) on Sunday. On Memorial Day, the city of Melbourne in Central Florida experienced its second-ever warmest May temperature at 98 degrees. Fort Pierce also tied its warmest day of the month on Monday at 98.

The NWS issued a hazardous weather outlook Wednesday afternoon for Atlantic coastal waters, southeast Florida, southern Florida, southwest Florida and Gulf of
Mexico. Forecasters warned of heat indexes of 100 to 105 degrees during the day in some counties, while scattered showers and thunderstorms move into the area by Wednesday evening.

Scattered storms are also possible throughout the rest of the workweek, said the NWS, which noted, “Any storm will be capable of gusty winds, frequent lightning, and heavy downpours.”

“The rip current risk will increase over the east coast Friday into the weekend as onshore flow increases,” forecasters added.

Temperatures of over 100 degrees were also felt throughout southern Texas over the weekend. Forecasters with Accuweather said in a release sent to Newsweek that parts of the southwestern and south-central U.S. will also feel the effects of a “tremendous dome of heat and drought” later this summer that has been building over Mexico. The system is expected to begin to shift north in the coming weeks, and AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Meteorologist Paul Pastelok said in the release that there is “potential for a prong of triple-digit heat to develop over the interior valley of California by the middle of next week.”

“But, most definitely, temperatures will trend upward significantly as a bubble of the Mexico heat moves up and into the western U.S.,” Pastelok added.