Valerie Mills is back, and the Atlantic is quiet: Isaias waits its turn
Her Saturday tropical update found an empty basin, a 20% chance in the southwestern Gulf and viewers glad to see her return.
FOX 13 Tampa BayStory of Why this story? The channel's weekly summary: what went up this week, what is drawing views now, and where the channel stands among similar channels.
Tropical weather forecast: October 03, 2026
Nothing brewing, plenty watching. FOX 13 meteorologist Valerie Mills opened Saturday's tropical update with good news: the National Hurricane Center was not tracking a single system, and the Atlantic basin was calm. The one thing she flagged was a 20% chance of development in the southwestern Gulf next week. The next name on the 2026 list, Isaias, is still unused.
That calm forecast became the station's biggest new upload of the week, passing 20,000 views in about half a day. Much of its comment section is a welcome back: several viewers mention her vacation and say they missed her. One longer comment asks the weekend team for a plain local forecast earlier in the day, not just the tropics.
Dave Osterberg covered the weekday shift, with an 88-degree Friday of afternoon storms and a look at the wind shear that has kept Gulf systems from forming. The rest of the station's fifteen uploads covered a deadly deputy shooting in Hudson, a JD Vance midterm rally in Lakeland and the sentencing phase of the TJ Wiggins triple murder trial in Polk County.
The subscriber count held steady at about 1.08 million. The week's views put the channel near the bottom of the large local stations, though its current daily pace is close to double its usual one. Among the same group, FOX 4 Dallas-Fort Worth is having a much bigger stretch than normal, and KTLA 5 drew the most views of the week.
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What viewers say
Yea she’s back ❤❤❤❤
@BooBahh-uh5jkSee it on YouTubeThank you for the update ❤️🙏🌺
@ednavega7263See it on YouTubeGood report. Quite ready for seasonal changes.
@fred_champion0455See it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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The videos drawing views on FOX 13 Tampa Bay right now
Tampa weather | Friday morning forecast11,947 views · 2026-10-02
LIVE: Pasco County deputy involved shooting10,032 views · 2026-10-02
Wind shear keeps Gulf systems at bay8,407 views · 2026-10-02
Florida deputies shoot, kill homeless man armed with knife5,876 views · 2026-10-03
LIVE: JD Vance holds midterm rally in Lakeland5,486 views · 2026-10-01
TJ Wiggins sentencing phase: Jury will begin deliberating next week3,339 views
- Channel
- FOX 13 Tampa Bay
- Subscribers
- 1,080,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 2,454,404
- Videos published this week
- 15
- Video published
- October 3, 2026
- Video views so far
- 20,948
The numbers
Here is how FOX 13 Tampa Bay's week looks in figures.
💡 Test your knowledge
Lakeland, where JD Vance held his rally, is the largest city in which Florida county?
Lakeland sits in Polk County, between Tampa and Orlando, and is the county's largest city.
