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KATHRYN WEXLERAll those clouds keep down the heat, but not everyone is happy about it. Outdoor cafe operators say they'd rather feel the heat - and see more business.
TAMPA - August is here, but these are no dog days.
Temperatures in the Tampa Bay area lately have been several degrees lower than usual. Like a giant awning, layers of rain clouds are shielding the region from the blazing sun.
Easy on air conditioning bills. Hard on people like outdoor cafe owners.
Case in point: Juli's Garden & Cafe on Rome Avenue, the heart of South Tampa's walking district. The twisted cypress chairs were damp and empty Monday afternoon. Thirty seats in the shaded garden, all without accompanying bottoms.
Owner Steve Delgiorno said the past four days have been the slowest in the four months since he opened.
Coffee drinkers, a hearty set, aren't cowed by a hot sun, Delgiorno said. He has seen customers plop down in the soupiest of humid days - "and eat soup!"
But toss in some rain, Delgiorno said, and even indoor customers disappear.
"They must be going to the mall," he said.
The cool respite began Friday, when temperatures in Tampa averaged 79 degrees, 3 degrees lower than the 30-year average. In St. Petersburg, the difference was about 6 degrees lower than the usual 84 degrees.
On Saturday, the day's average was a noticeable 5 degrees lower than usual in Tampa, 6 degrees lower in St. Petersburg. The temperature rose by a couple of degrees Sunday and Monday, but it was still a bit cooler than average.
"It's nice," allowed Russell Henes, meteorologist with the National Weather Service, when pressed to say something nice about the cool spell.
But Henes could be heard shrugging over the phone from his station in Ruskin.
"This is nothing to get excited about," he added.
That's because temperatures in general this summer are pretty much mirroring 30-year averages.
In June, which also had a spate of rain, temperatures averaged 88.1 degrees overall in Tampa, versus 88.9 degrees in past years. For the month of July, the average temperature was 89.8 degrees, as compared to the long-term July average of 89.7 degrees. St. Petersburg saw similar numbers.
At the aptly named Moon Under Water, a cafe in downtown St. Petersburg, manager Mario Jooste gave an elliptic answer when asked how the rain affected business.
"When the rain comes down, you know what happens in Florida," said Jooste, who is from South Africa.
Uh, actually no. What does happen when the rain comes down?
"Back home when it rains, the pubs are always packed with people," Jooste said. "Here everybody stays home sort-of-thing."
More rain is on the way this week. That also means more cool air. That does not mean, of course, that Jooste is pleased.
"That's not bloody good," he said.
- Kathryn Wexler can be reached at wexler@sptimes.com or 813 226-3383.