i'm gayle guyardo. >> i'm again ramirez, the flames shot 30 feet in the air. the fire so bad crews couldn't a center off palm river road. right now they are letting it burn to the ground. mary joins us live from the scene. what can you tell us? >> reporter: firefighters have been fighting this blaze close to three hours now and in the past couple of minutes the ladder truck has been brought back up we saw it come down for a little bit but it's back up trying to put out the hotspots at the rec center. the building is a total loss. when we arrived on scene flames were shooting 30 feet in the air and two aerial ladder

i'm gayle guyardo. >> i'm again ramirez, the flames shot 30 feet in the air. the fire so bad crews couldn't a center off palm river road. right now they are letting it burn to the ground. mary joins us live from the scene. what can you tell us? >> reporter: firefighters have been fighting this blaze close to three hours now and in the past couple of minutes the ladder truck has been brought back up we saw it come down for a little bit but it's back up trying to put out the hotspots at the rec center. the building is a total loss. when we arrived on scene flames were shooting 30 feet in the air and two aerial ladder the fire. this is a building that has been in the news lately. in march the vinick family foundation announced they were donating $2.5 million to renovate this rec center. the largest individual gift in the 90-year history of the boys and girls club in tampa bay. and it were set to be renamed the jeff and penny vinick family winston park boys and girls club. this will be a blow to the people in the area that depend on rec centers like this for after

i'm gayle guyardo. 9:58. thursday morning. let's check the weather. ed, doesn't feel like december 1st. >> temperatures will stay above average. we'll top out at 79. few spotty showers through the day. less humid air overnight. we're going to keep the scatter clouds around with a overlow of section. temperatures near average for friday, high of 76. warming through the weekend but staying dry. better rain chances longterm up to 30% by next tuesday, highs in the 80s. >>> a struggling military museum in largo plans to close for good. the armed forces history museum organizers say the museum might be taken over by the government or another organization. you can follow this story on i'm jerry penacoli. cyndi is enjoying a few days off, but, you know, as cyndi always does, she pretapes a few segments which we'll have a little bit later on in the show. joining us today, so excited about having this young woman back. she is a chef extraordinaire, whitney miller. no stranger to us here at "daytime." >> no. >> the last time you were here, you were pregnant out

gayle guyardo. >> i'm gene ramirez. >> the weather now. >> humidity sky high, fog and rain on max defender 8, not on land but a thin line of showers in the gulf. that is in association with a cold front that will bring a chance of rain today. look at the fog there though. that is the view from lakeland auto mall. portions of the area dealing with reduced visibility, it's soupy. upper 60s and lo the day. there's the fog, visibility zero now in lakeland. mostly cloudy and 79 today. the rain chances fairly slim. staying at 20% through today. you may have to turn on the windshield wipers today. >> whoo, good to see you here. we've got a decent drive in traffic. a couple of things. quick look at travel times here. wesley chapel up to speed and 2p 75 into downtown tampa looks 275. this is i-75 by i-4, just a few minutes ago -- i think they are take it away now, we had the right lane blocked. i see one of the trucks leaving -- you can see it leaving the camera to the far left there. they have just cleared the construction northbound i-75 at i-4. heading to wet weather there. 275 on the howard fra

welcome to newschannel 8 today, i'm gayle guyardo. >> i'm gene ramirez, thank you for joining us on this thursday morning. let's check with ed bloodsworth in for lee. >> that same system that caused that water spout is heading our way. knits a much weaker fashion though. in the last few minutes a few showers popped up over hardee and extreme southern portions of polk county. also a thin line of showers here it is. it's holding its own as it slowly but surely starts to march our way. rain chances on the increase in the day ahead. as you step outside, it doesn't feel like december 1st. six and 70s with extremely high humidity and fog an issue especially in interior portions of our area. visibility now down to zero in lakeland. temperatures staying warm today. your average high is 75. we get to 79 later on this afternoon. we're going to talk more about first looks like that fog could affect travel conditions. >>> a little coming in between plant city and poke city. let's look at some. i-4 at county line road. i'm going to switch the camera and get closer into polk county. i-4 by the polk pa