Climate and Storm History of St. Pete, Florida

St. Pete, Florida has a climate that is classified as humid subtropical, or CFA by the Koppen classification scale.  This type of climate is noted for its distinctive rainy season which lasts from June through September every year.  During this period, temperatures range from the mid 80s to low 90s, and are accompanied by high humidity.  The heat and humidity are often relieved by a passing afternoon thunderstorm or sea breeze developing off the Gulf Coast.  This will lower temperatures, but conditions usually remain quite muggy.  Most of the year's average of approximately 55 inches of rainfall occurs during the wet season.

 St. Pete, much like most of the Tampa Bay Area, is affected by tropical storms and hurricanes from time to time.  Still, the last time a hurricane directly struck St. Pete was in 1921. Many areas surrounding St. Pete, especially along the Tampa Bay and in south St. Pete, experience effects from tropical microclimates.

St. Pete’s humid subtropical climate classification includes temperature variations from winter to summer.  January is the coldest month with an average low of 53 degrees and average high 76 degrees.  The warmest months in St. Pete are July and August with average highs of 89 degrees and average lows 74 degrees. The driest month is April with 1.4 inches of rainfall, while the wettest is September with 5.6 inches.

City of St. Pete, Florida: General Information

St. Pete, Florida is a city in Pinellas County, and has long been known as a vacation destination for American and foreign tourists.  As of 2008, the U.S. Census Bureau estimated the population to be 245,314, making St. Pete the fourth largest city in the state of Florida and the largest city in Florida that is not a county seat.  St. Pete is the second largest metropolis in the Tampa Bay Area and the second largest Metropolitan Statistical Area in the state.

The city is located on a peninsula between Tampa Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, connected to mainland Florida to the north.  The city of Tampa lies to the east and is accessible by causeways and bridges across Tampa Bay.  The Gandy Bridge was the first causeway to be built across Tampa Bay, connecting St. Pete and Tampa directly and avoiding a circuitous 43-mile trip around Tampa Bay.  With an average of 360 days of sunshine each year, it is nicknamed “The Sunshine City,” and has long been a popular retirement destination, especially for those in the United States from colder Northern climates.

As of the U.S. Census in 2000, 23.85% of St. Pete households had children under the age of 18, while 37.295% were married couples, 13.8% had a female householder and 43.8% were non-families.  Individuals comprised 35.6% of all households and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household had 2.10 people and the average family size was 2.9.  The city's population was spread out according to age, with 21.5% of residents being under the age of 18, and 7.7% aged from 18 to 24.  Other age groups included 30.2% of residents aged from 25 to 44, 23.1% ranging from 45 to 64 years old, and 17.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39.24 years.

The median income for a household in St. Pete according to the 2000 Census was $34,597, and the median income for a family was $43,198.  Males edged out females with a median income of $30,794 versus $27,860.  The per capita income for individuals the city was $21,107.

History of the City of St. Pete, Florida

The history of St. Pete, Florida began with the establishment of a settlement in 1876.  Co-founders John C. Williams and Peter Demens were instrumental in dedicating the land that would become the city and in bringing the terminus of a railroad there in 1888. St. Pete, or St. Petersburg, was  officially incorporated on February 29, 1892, with a population of 300 people.  St. Pete was named after Saint Petersburg, Russia, where Demens spent half of his youth.

The next few decades brought modernization for St. Pete.  Philadelphia publisher F. A. Davis turned on St. Petersburg's first electrical service in 1897 and its first trolley began service in 1904.  Industry came to St. Pete in 1899 when a North Carolinian established a wholesale fish business at the end of the railroad pier, which extended out to the shipping channel.  Soon, it became necessary to provide access to St. Pete for larger shipping, and dredging of a deeper shipping channel took place from 1906 to 1908.   Further dredging improved the port facilities through the early 1900s, and by then the city’s population had quadrupled to 4,127.  In 1914, the first commercial airline service in the U.S. was initiated with a route across Tampa Bay from St. Petersburg to Tampa and back.

St. Pete’s population continued to multiply during the 20th century.  The 1940s and 50s were a population explosion, especially the advent of air-conditioning in homes.  Through the 1970s, St. Pete became a popular retirement destination for Americans from the cooler cities in the Midwest, and the population reached 238,647 in the 1980 census.