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The best tourist attractions include Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Clearwater Beach, Downtown Tampa/Business 41, Florida Aquarium, International Plaza and Bay Street, and Sunsets at Pier 60. Tampa is a major United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It serves as ... more »
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Adventure Island® Busch Gardens® Tampa Bay Caladesi Island State Park Clearwater Beach Florida Aquarium Florida Botanical Gardens International Plaza and Bay Street Lowry Park Zoo Museum of Fine Arts Museum of Science and Industry Salvador Dali Museum St. Petersburg Beach Sunsets at Pier 60 Tampa Bay Buccaneers Tampa Bay Devil Rays Tampa Bay Lightning
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Airports The best tourist attractions include Busch Gardens Tampa Bay, Clearwater Beach, Downtown Tampa/Business 41, Florida Aquarium, International Plaza and Bay Street, and Sunsets at Pier 60.
Tampa is a major United States city in Hillsborough County, on the west coast of Florida. It serves as its county seat. The population within the city limits in 2005, according to the Census was 326,519; it is the third-largest city in Florida, behind Jacksonville and Miami.
Tampa is a part of the Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan area, most commonly referred to as the "Tampa Bay area".
It is bordered by two bodies of water: Old Tampa Bay and Hillsborough Bay, which both flow to form Tampa Bay, which flows into the Gulf of Mexico. The Hillsborough River (Florida) flows out into Tampa bay, passing directly in front of Downtown Tampa and supplying Tampa with its main source of water.
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Train stations
Amtrak services Tampa via the Tampa Union Train Station, located in a historic building near downtown.
Seaports
Several cruise ships make use of the Port of Tampa, located in the Channel District.
Mass transit
The Hillsborough Area Regional Transit Authority (HARTline) operates the streetcars as well as the bus system. HARTline has signed transit deals with both the University of South Florida and the University of Tampa, allowing HARTline buses to transfer students from the two campuses to other areas of Tampa free of charge as long as proof of affiliation with the school is presented. Starting in December 2005, faculty from both schools now have to pay 25 cents.
The TECO Line Streetcar System, which links Ybor City, the Channel District and downtown Tampa, began operating on Saturday, October 19, 2002. Despite the system's limited reach and comparatively slow speed (about 10-15 mph), the air-conditioned cars do offer a nostalgic method of getting around in far greater comfort than was possible a century ago. The line is intentionally reminiscent of Tampa's extensive early twentieth-century streetcar network, albeit much smaller in scope at present (2006). Expansion, though costly, is generally acknowledged as desirable if it can be done affordably. The line chiefly stops only at popular destinations; extensions might do well to add stops in residential areas, at Union Station and the major local airports (PIE and TPA), and on MacDill AFB.
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The word "Tampa" is a Native American word used to refer to the area when the first European explorers arrived in Florida. Its meaning, if any, has been lost to the ages, though it is sometimes claimed to mean "sticks of fire" in the language of the Calusa, a Native American tribe. Other historians claim the name refers to "The place to gather sticks". "Sticks of fire" may also relate to the high concentration of lightning strikes that Tampa Bay receives every year during the hot and wet summer months. The name first appears in the "Memoir" of Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda (1575), the author of which had spent 17 years as a Calusa captive. He calls it "Tanpa" and describes it as an important Calusa town.
Indian Reservation
Spain transferred Florida to the United States in 1821. An Indian reservation was established in what is now north Tampa. As part of efforts to firmly establish United States control over southern Florida, then a vast swampy wilderness with sparse Seminole Indian population, a military outpost ("Cantonment Brooke") was established at what is now the Tampa Convention Center in downtown Tampa in 1823 by Colonels George Mercer Brooke and James Gadsden. In 1824, the post was renamed Fort Brooke. It was a vital military asset in the Seminole Wars. The village of Tampa began to grow up around the fort, which was decommissioned in 1883. Except for two cannons now on the University of Tampa campus, all traces of the fort are gone.
American Troops
Tampa was an embarkation center for American troops during the Spanish-American War. Lieutenant Colonel Teddy Roosevelt and his Rough Riders were part of the 30,000 troops stationed in Tampa for training.
The biggest development of the city was the development of New Tampa that started in 1988 when the city annexed a 24-square mile (mostly rural) area between I-275 and I-75. Today, the district boasts over 22,000 inhabitants.
Air Conditioning
With the advent of air conditioning, thousands of new residents have arrived in Tampa from the northern United States. The population continues to grow rapidly, and construction is proceeding rapidly on new housing developments around Tampa.
* Tampa's climate is subtropical, with a threat of frost about once every 2-3 years. Highs usually stay between 65 and 95 °F (18 and 35 °C) year round, and lows rarely go below 32 °F (0 °C). These rare freezes are an enormous threat to area agriculture and aquaculture. Likewise, summer temperatures are predictable, and have never risen above 100 °F (38 °C). The all-time record high temperature in downtown was 99 °F (37 °C), recorded on June 5, 1985.
Fog can also be an occasional problem in the winter and spring. Temperatures are hot May through October, which coincides with the rainy season. These summer days have highs around 90 °F (32 °C) and high humidity. The summer nighttime temperature drops to only around 75 °F (23 °C). Other times of the year, the temperatures are moderate and sunshine is abundant.
Thunderstorms are a major concern on summer afternoons. High winds, small hail, and torrential rain often accompany these common afternoon thunderstorms which can be severe. Tornadoes are not unheard of. These storms often move out over the Gulf of Mexico at night, where they are easily seen from land as spectacular light shows.
Temperature - Yearly Average
Another major concern for Tampa is the Atlantic hurricane season which runs from June 1st to November 30th and peaks in September. Tampa gets hit about every 2-3 years. In 2004 the remnants of Hurricane Jean hit the Tampa region. If a categoty four or five hit Tampa would see a storm surge of 25-30ft., might be greater than hurricane Katrina. It has been more than 70 years since Tampa has had a direct hit from a hurricane. Tampa also is popularly known as the "Lightning Capital of the United States", (Rwanda maintains the World title) due in part to the frequent, dangerous and (on rare occasions) deadly lightning strikes.
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* This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the Source wikipedia.
