Jeff Berardelli is WFLA’s Chief Meteorologist and Climate Specialist

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — On Wednesday, Tampa International Airport reached an astonishing 94 degrees. While that may not sound like much for Florida, it has never been done in Tampa this early in the season.

In fact, Tampa’s earliest 94-degree day before this was April 29, 2017. We beat that by four weeks!

And the record-breaking heat will continue, with 90 plus temperatures expected in Tampa and most of the Tampa Bay area, with the exception of the immediate coast, through Saturday.

If we reach 90 degrees four days in a row, it would be the earliest — by far — we have ever done that. The prior earliest four-day streak of 90 plus temperatures started April 26, 1991.

This heat is due to a large heat dome overhead and a strong southeast wind, keeping the Gulf sea breeze locked at the coast, and not allowing nature’s air conditioning to kick in.

That’s the short term “weather” reason. But overall, these heat events are increasing in recent years, and that is where a warming climate is to blame.

The first 90-degree day is coming earlier than it used to decades ago and that is due to climate change — both due to the buildup of heat-trapping greenhouse gases in the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels and also because of the urban heat island effect of a larger urban footprint.

Wednesday’s 90 plus temperature is more than a month ahead of the normal first 90-degree day in Tampa. And if you compare it to the early 20th century, it is 50 days ahead of schedule.

Ninety-degree days are not just coming earlier, there are a whole lot more of them. In the 1970s, Tampa used to average around 60 90-degree days per year. But over the past several years it is now closer to 120. In other words, we now have double the number of 90-degree days we used to just 50 years ago.

If you look at spring in the Tampa Bay area, there is a clear trend. Springs are getting significantly warmer. Since 1970, springs have warmed by 4.4 degrees.

This trend is not restricted to Tampa. Springs are warming almost everywhere on Earth, and that is true for the US as well, as you can see in the below image from Climate Central.

This long-term warming trend will not slow until we slow the release of carbon pollution.

But there is some good news in the short term, relief is on the way! After the summery weekend, a strong cool front will drop temperatures back to normal by Tuesday.