CCTV Installation Company in Tampa, FL

Parts of northern and central Florida will see freezing temperatures as a cold front passes through the state this week, reports said.

Tiffany Razzano, Patch Staff

|Updated Mon, Dec 2, 2024 at 1:49 pm ET

FLORIDA — Temperatures will continue to dip into the low 40s in the Tampa Bay area overnight Monday in the first big cold front of the season, forecasters said.

Areas further north in the state will see near or below freezing temperatures, the Florida Division of Emergency Management said.

Freeze warnings are in place throughout Suwannee Valley and interior northeast Florida. Feels-like temperatures will fall into the 20s and 30s throughout north and central Florida by Tuesday morning, FDEM said.

Frost is also possible across northern Florida and the Nature Coast, the agency said.

“It's a heavy coat kind of morning north of Tampa today. Check out Brooksville down to 30 degrees right now,” Denis Phillips, chief meteorologist for ABC Action News, wrote in a Facebook post Monday morning. “Even colder weather is likely on Wednesday morning. If you're looking for warmer weather, you'll get that by the end of the week.”

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The state will see “the coldest air of the season” so far Tuesday and Wednesday, WESH reported.

“Frosty conditions” are expected overnight Monday as far south as the Fort Myers and Naples area, News-Press reported.

Freeze warnings are likely to be issued for the Tampa area and north, the outlet said.

AccuWeather forecasters said that there could be pockets of snow reaching to the mid-Atlantic and Northeast coast depending on how cold the air is. "The amount and precise locations of that snow will depend on the track and intensity of the moisture-starved storm," AccuWeather said.

Meteorologists are tracking the possibility of a stronger storm during the second week of the month. While it is far out enough that specifics are not available, such a track typically allows the storm to capture much more moisture from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic, which can potentially then unload heavier precipitation, AccuWeather said.

Here is the latest forecast in the Tampa Bay area from the National Weather Service:

What the most popular dog and cat names for 2024 in the Tampa area? Check out the list for top monikers in the state and nationwide.

Deb Belt, Patch Staff

TAMPA, FL — Call for Luna in the Tampa region and it’s anyone’s guess if a dog or cat will come running. Luna is the top name for female dogs and female cats, according to a new report from Rover, an online marketplace for pet care products.

In Tampa, the top five dog names for 2024 are, respectively, Luna, Bella, Cooper, Max and Charlie.

The top five cat names for 2024 are, respectively, Luna, Leo, Oliver, Loki and Bella.

These cat and dog names have jumped up most in popularity this year. They showcase what’s gaining traction in the Tampa region:

Food names are popular in Tampa this year. Biscuit is up 374%, Oreo is up 352%, and Pepper is up 352%.

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Powerful names are on the rise: Xena is up 274%, Brutus is up 257%, and Rocket is up 241%.

Other trending names include Indy (407%), Chief (374%), Polo (241%), and Stella (169%).

In the Miami area, the top five dog names for 2024 are, respectively, Luna, Bella, Coco, Milo and Max.

The top five cat names for 2024 are, respectively, Luna, Leo, Milo, Nala and Simba.

These cat and dog names have jumped up most in popularity this year. They showcase what’s gaining traction in the Miami metro:

Miami pet parents love pet names inspired by '80s movies. Goose is up 276% and Gizmo is up 249%.

Colorful names are trending in Miami this year. Violet is up 409%, Blu is up 254%, and Onyx is up 97%.

Nationally, the top 10 names for female dogs are Luna, Bella, Daisy, Lucy, Lily, Lola, Zoe, Sadie, Coco and Bailey. There’s a fair amount of crossover in the top names for female cats: Luna, Lily, Bella Lucy, Callie, Nala, Kitty, Willow, Cleo and Daisy.

Top names for male dogs are Charlie, Max, Milo, Cooper, Buddy, Teddy, Rocky, Bear, Leo and Duke. There’s some overlap in the top names for male cats, which are Milo, Oliver, Leo, Charlie, Loki, Max, Simba, Jack, Ollie and Jasper.

In addition to the traditional names in the Top 10 for female and male cats and dogs, names referencing pop culture, sports. Entertainment and even the grocery store surged in 2024. Some of the names were Bluey, which surged 58 percent for dogs and 122 percent for cats, claiming the No. 1 trending name for both species.

“The pet names we choose are a look into our latest cultural obsessions and our sources of joy,” Nicole Ellis, a certified professional trainer and Rover Pet People panelist, said in a news release. “This year’s report reads like the magazines we used to love flipping through — the names are equal parts tabloid-worthy and total comfort food.”

The top celebrity names for female dogs are Taylor Swift, Jisso, Jane Fonda, Normani, Renee (Rapp), Brat, Beyoncé and Sabrina. Eilish and Dua Lipa are trending as well.

The top celebrity names for cats are Styles, Taylor Swift, Ivana, Halsey, Gaga, Cardi B and Elon. New to the mix this year are Eilish, Justin Timberlake, and Kelly Clarkson.

Provolone was the top food-inspired name for cats, with a 509 percent surge. Other food-inspired names that are trending include Casserole, Babybel, Burger, Burrito, Sorbet, Twinkie and Meringue.

Pet names also were inspired by TV shows and movies, famed fashion houses and social media trends, the report said.

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The vote by the utility commissioners defied the recommendation of their staff.

By

In a vote that countered the recommendations of their own staff, Florida utility regulators Tuesday allowed Tampa Electric to continue shifting millions in costs from large corporate power users onto the bills of regular Floridians and small businesses.

The Florida Public Service Commission met to decide crucial issues at the heart of a nearly yearlong case, in which Tampa Electric has requested to hike base rates on its customers. Base rates are a major component of electricity bills that also include other charges for things like hurricane repairs and fuel.

The central question: How much more would the utility be allowed to charge its customers for base rates over the next three years?

Tuesday’s votes mirrored a verdict after months of trial-like proceedings that involved the company’s CEO getting grilled on the witness stand for more than eight hours. The Legislature-appointed consumer advocate, Walt Trierweiler, has called Tampa Electric’s rate hike requests “breathtaking” and “egregiously excessive,” warning they would exact “severe economic pain” on Floridians. The commission staff seemed to agree at least in part, formally recommending that the regulators deny many aspects of Tampa Electric’s request and slash its increases almost in half.

But on Tuesday, as the commissioners met to vote on the recommendations, they deviated several times in ways that will result in higher costs to residential electric bills.

“The staff recommendation was pretty good, and the commission just added back in a bunch of the costs,” said Jordan Luebkemann, an environmental lawyer who represented two pro-residential groups in the case. “This is a really disappointing outcome.”

Tampa Electric spokesperson Cherie Jacobs praised the decisions. The company has argued that the hikes are needed to maintain a high quality of service.

“This was a good outcome for the company and our customers, and we look forward to continuing to provide our customers with safe, reliable power,” she said in an email.

The exact amounts of the increases were still unclear, as commission staff still needs to crunch the numbers after Tuesday’s decisions. Regulators are scheduled to meet again on Dec. 19 to vote on specific rates.

Since a 2021 agreement that was signed by large corporations including a hospital group and Walmart, Tampa Electric has been shifting more costs onto its residential customers, while large power users — especially industrial companies — see smaller increases. That’s because the new structure weights how much power each customer class uses in four key months: January, June, July and August, when residents crank either their air conditionings or heaters the highest.

But in this year’s case, commission staff said Tampa Electric had not sufficiently proven this structure made sense, especially because it means residents largely foot the bill for new solar plants that are not related to seasonal peaks in demand. If commissioners had followed the staff recommendation, Tampa Electric’s cost structure would have become more similar to what’s used by Duke Energy Florida.

The regulators, however, disagreed. Commissioner Art Graham said it was important to incentivize manufacturing companies to stay in the Tampa area.

In addition to shifting costs onto residential bills, the commission also increased the rate of shareholder profit that Tampa Electric can earn compared to the staff recommendation. The commissioners agreed on a range with a midpoint of 10.5%, which was still lower than the 11.5% sought by the company that would have been among the highest in the nation.

The commissioners also countered staff recommendations by approving millions in rate hikes for a new power plant on MacDill Air Force Base and for another project so the Polk Power Station can burn more oil in addition to natural gas. Tampa Electric argued it’s necessary to help insulate customers from price spikes in natural gas, which it uses to generate the majority of its electricity.

The Florida Public Service Commission regulators were all appointed by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Tuesday’s meeting was rare, as an electric utility rate case hasn’t required these types of votes from commissioners in more than a decade.

Utility rate cases in Florida are often settled by the utility and regulators coming to an agreement before this point, which allows the companies to avoid the trial-like procedure in which sometimes-unflattering internal documents become public. Multiple pro-consumer lawyers in the case, including Trierweiler, have alleged that Tampa Electric is seeking to extract as much money as it can from Florida so it can prop up its Canadian parent company, Emera, which is more strictly regulated and is experiencing financial issues.

Tampa Electric CEO Archie Collins has said there’s “no correlation” between the rate hike request and Emera’s struggles.

Over the summer, Tampa Bay-area residents from across income and political spectrums attended meetings to implore the utility commission to not hike their rates. Tampa Electric has nearly 850,000 customers.

Brooke Ward, senior Florida organizer for environmental group Food & Water Watch, which participated in those meetings, said Tuesday’s votes showed the commission is a “rubber-stamp for utilities and big businesses.”

“Today’s decision is a gut punch,” Ward said in a statement. “What could have been a landmark victory for communities over corporations, and an historic win for energy justice, took a hard left turn to support profits over people.”

AARP, which advocates for people over age 50, also blasted the decision, after turning out dozens of red polo-clad retirees to the summer meetings and gathering thousands of signatures on anti-rate hike petitions.

“Residential ratepayers beholden to Tampa Electric are about to be hit with the force of a Category 5 hurricane in the form of skyrocketing electric bills,” said Zayne Smith of AARP Florida. “This decision is particularly devastating for those who can least afford an increase in their monthly expenses, including many seniors and low-income families.”