Beryl Could Bring Rain to South Tampa on Memorial Day

The Tampa Bay area will be spared of Tropical Storm Beryl's most severe effects, but showers and thunderstorms are still a strong possibility for Memorial Day, according to the National Weather Service.

The weather service calls for a 60 percent chance of precipitation Monday and says a thunderstorm is possible in its latest forecast. 

The Bay area should still be better off than northeastern Florida, where Beryl made landfall in Jacksonville shortly after midnight. The storm's arrival caused many Memorial Day activities in north Florida and south Georgia to be canceled, CNN reports. Beryl left 21,000 customers there without electricity and forced the Jacksonville Aviation Authority to cancel all of the day's remaining incoming and outgoing flights, according to CNN.

The storm has since weakened as it slowly moves inland. Beryl's center was about 40 miles west of Jacksonville as of 8 a.m. Monday and moving at 8 mph, according to the NWS' National Hurricane Center. But it carried winds of up to 50 mph and was expected to bring rainfall amounts of up to 8 inches.

Beryl is projected to move northeast toward the Carolinas before heading back out to the Atlantic Ocean.

In Tampa, the local forecast calls for between a quarter and a half-inch of rain Monday, along with a high of 87 degrees and a low of 75. There is also a 50 percent chance of rain Tuesday.

Beryl's arrival comes a few days before the official start of hurricane season June 1.

Stay tuned to Patch throughout the 2012 hurricane season for complete local weather coverage and news you can use to prepare.