If you have family and friends in town it is pretty nice. For us it is a little warm but for everyone else they will be very excited. We will start with max defender 8 which is proving that there is no rainfall. We expected to be a dry and giving. Lakeland automall, 64 degrees as you get this thanksgiving started. 55 knoxville. These temperatures are warmer than yest about 5 degrees warmer than you were yesterday. Lakeland is 7 degrees warmer. We will break down the thanksgiving forecast. For the turkey trot as i know you are lacing up out there. 63 degrees kind of mile. Quick lunch. We will already be at 77. During the evening right around 72 degrees. I am tracking hurricane auto which may make right now volunteers are preparing thanksgiving dinner for more than 6000 homeless families. It is an annual event that has become a hallmark tradition of the holidays here in tampa bay. Meredith is there this morning. Hows it going out there quick it looks like . It looks like his are heating up. Reporter were at metro ministries where turning. It is a lot of work to serve thousands of meals not to mention that the food here is going to serve not just the homeless here in tampa, but homeless communities throughout the bay area. 4000 meals will be delivered to partner sites across the tampa bay area. We have some video from last year for the metropolitan Ministry Kitchen staff, while they begin preparing much earlier in the turkey, 2 tons of stuffing, mashed potatoes and vegetables, 80 gallons of gravy and 1000 highs. About 250 men, women and children will come to the main campus for a service and a meal. The rest of the meals will be boxed up and delivered throughout the bay area. Just one thanksgiving wraps up, dont ink all of this work will be done think all of this work will tomorrow they will start preparing for christmas. We are very thankful for our volunteers and we will be here with them throughout the morning. The volunteers really make it happen. We cannot say thank you enough. Happening today, the street of tampa will be packed as the turkey gobble 5k gets underway. Ryan hughes is live downtown. Tens of thousands of people are expected we can call them this morning. Good morning and happy thanksgiving to you. Will many will sit around the dinner table and splurge more than 3000 people will hit the road for the turkey gobble. If you take a look behind me you can see set up is underway right now. This is the 2nd annual race. You are looking at video from last years goodygoody turkey gobble. Roughly 2000 runners took to the streets of downtown chama tampa. It takes people from emily over the bridge and then back to. It is a good way to break burn off those calories later to be packed on. We just folks spoke to the councilmember and they said it is supposed to top last year. Very impressed with numbers this year. Last year we had about 25 we are really excited about those numbers. Reporter at thing, all proceeds go to the Live Strong Program which helps people diagnosed with cancer. Everyone who participates, even those who dont come in first place get this, a metal. Medal 2 up the nose county deputy shot a it happened last night. The deputies were responding to calls for help from the girls boyfriend girlfriend. You dont come after a Police Officer armed federal care how messed up you are. They did the right thing. To investigators have not released the identity of the. Set of date, in chattanooga tennessee a 6 the child has died after mondays deadly bus crash. This is as a result the results of the toxicology test of the driver. Investigators determined he was speeding and driving the bus on a route that was not approved for transporting children. In detroit the Wayne State University officer who shot ahead has passed away in the head has passed away. Police have taken a suspect in the custody into custody. Use a 5 year veteran of the force and left behind a fiancie. 3 fisherman are extra thankful after they were rescued from a sinking boat. The boat started taking on water about 35 miles southwest of the panhandle. Men and bring them to safety. The men were a little cold but otherwise okay. President elect donald trump is calling for National Unity in his thanksgiving message. In the 2 made a video he talks about the hurt feelings caused by the election. It is my prayer that on this thanksgiving we begin to heal our divisions and move forward as one country strengthened by shared purpose and very common resolve. Thanksgiving holiday with his family in palm beach. He will take a break for family time. His team is still working to pick top cabinet post before he takes office. One position doesnt have to fill as education secretary. Last night he named betsy devos to take on that position. Hillary clinton lead in the nearing 2 million votes. The growing count will do nothing to change the outcome of the election since donald trump won the electoral college. Some supporters believe it shows the need to challenge the results and call for a recount. This is president Barack Obamas last thanksgiving at the white house. While he will enjoy a turkey dinner the family took time out to give back. Last night they serve thanksgiving dinner to homeless veterans. They served up food at the Armed Forces Retirement home in washington dc. The holiday weather. Happy thanksgiving to everyone. It is really going to be comfortable. It is going to be warmer than average but it doesnt mean it is going to be uncomfortable. It is 53. 59 lakeland. 51 plant city. Through the day today when the sun comes up there will be a little bit of low clouds and fog but generally clear. We will see some passing clouds 80 degrees at 4 pm. Im putting the humidity in the not too bad category. A couple of weeks ago we wouldve out this was fantastic but we have been in that invigorating category for so long i think youll notice the extra humidity. It is warm today. 81 today and 81 tomorrow. We get down a 76 on sunday before going back up to 81 on tuesday. Hurricane otto now on the border of nicaragua and costa rica today in south america and then over the pacific. Thanksgiving isnt just about the food and family but also about the plant to cash in on all of those holiday deals. Still a look ahead to when people plan on hitting the stores. It is 4 39 and you are watching news channel 8 today taste the many sides of brookside. Smooth dark chocolate outside. This morning it is pretty quiet on the street. Committee stores and businesses are close to let workers spend time with families. Several stores will open the their doors this evening to let you get a jumpstart on your shopping. Westfield malls and citrus park , brandon and countryside are opening their doors at 6 pm. The outlet malls open at 6. For full list of stores open angst giving head to wfla. Com. There you will find information on how to find black friday deals. Black friday shopping can be quite a frenzy special prices. This morning we have look at when shoppers plan to hit the stores. Reporter a huge number of people will get out early forgoing food prep. Take a look at the numbers of people getting out to shop. Most of them getting out before 5 00 if they are shopping today. Another large percentage will get out at around 6 00 if they decide to shop today. The stores tomorrow . A lot of people hitting stores around 6 9 in the morning. Around 12 percent around midnight. Another large percentage around 22 percent hitting stores 10 am or later. Shopping options include more than just today and tomorrow. We also have to talk about cyber monday. When did people decide to buy things . They say most people go for black friday with 40 with 47 percent hitting it on hitting it on cyber monday. Even though it may be more convenient to buy things for inside your home a lot of people like the fun of black friday. They will get out tomorrow and enjoy a little bit of the chase of it, camping out. This morning some people are camped out for a chance to be first in line for those black friday deals. Handful of people are already lined up. Outside the best buy on the dell maybury highway in tampa hours hoping to cash in on a 49 inch tv 439. 139. It is not just a deal my girlfriend broke my tv so i have to get a new one that will last a 6 years or more. They open doors today at 5 00. Many people are bypassing stores and malls to Holiday Shopping online however a pilot strike could delay some of your shipments. Strike. Amazon says not to worry they use other carriers and are confident they will be able to make those deliveries for you. Right now final preparations are underway for the macys thanksgiving day parade in new york city. Take a look at this live picture. We have Police Officers there. It looks like they are shutting down roadways getting the various up for the many people that will be headed out million, i will be one of them, are expected to watch on tv. Yesterday they blew up the balloons including 16 giant balloons including charlie on brown and one from the movie trolls. Youll want to be on the lookout for the lithium new some high school for Newsome High School band share thanksgiving meal today. For some it is a meal made by special cooks. This morning i take you behind the scenes of good to go catering serving up good food for good cause. Think you are serving up a big family . Good to go catering is serving up 600 pounds of tech this thanksgiving. I pull it out at an early temperature of 120 so i can continue to cook in the bad bag here. Release programs get handson experiences to find jobs and build life schools skills for adults with disability. The community is embracing the action. Lsi is one of many Corporate Partners that want to help. You are seeing a lot of support . We are seeing a lot of support. We have a lot of big catering as well as small catering. We lot of operations. It could be up to 450, 700. Our numbers grow every day. The Catering Service runs yearround and is overseen by professional chefs. The quality is high and the cost is love, 10 a person for thanksgiving meals with all the trimmings. We serve sweet potato casserole, green beans, corn bread, dressing, turkey, while people all over tampa bay are grateful for good to go, the people who work here are thankful just for the opportunity to the tampa bay. Other major Corporate Partners that order meals are val pack, Pinellas County schools and wells fargo. Individuals can order as well at the cafeteria. St. Petersburg is open to the public and their prices are very reasonable. Years where i going to a great cause. I know i do make my own turkey but they deliver a very delicious turkey. We love the whole turkey carving thing. It is going to be a nice one today. A little warmer than what we would expect but not uncomfortably so. It is a little desolate out on veterans expressway right now. One or 2 cars getting to where they are going this thanksgiving perhour. I have been watching for patchy fog and i do expect it to develop but it will not be widespread. It has just started in the brandon area. This morning 64 degrees at 8 am. It will feel mild for you before warming up fast. 77 at noon, 8140 to see thanksgiving with patchy clouds around 3 pm. Brooksville it is at 55. 62 bartow. 63 we have one big storm system. It is not quite as strong as it has been but it mainly to some rain for the thanksgiving day parade in new york city. For us we are going to stay mild. This cold front stays to the north. Over the next several days we stay dry before the next cold front comes through on saturday. Right now just to 10 percent rain chance and not much cooler behind it. Of polk county boy is doing boy is doing something most 8 yearold stone, he is giving away all his christmas presents. Coming up we will tell you i and also how many calories are ok impaciente manolo youre so cold, come in whats wrong . Take off your hat no hey. Its, its dry. Your scalp . Mine gets dry in the winter too. Try head and shoulders dry scalp care it nourishes the scalp 3 surface layers deep to help. And keeps you up to 100 flake free now we can cuddle the whole winter strachan many of you are spending thanksgiving with family. There are quite a few people that will spend the holiday at work or with coworkers. Career spend the holiday with their workfamily. 28 indicate they will be working. Some of those positions that dont get the day off includes doctors, nurses, Police Officers, firefighters and candace and gayle. Besides fending spending the time with family best thing about angst giving is the food. You can really add up calorie wise american will consume 3000 . 4500 calories during thanksgiving day. One slice of pumpkin pie has 323 calories. A slice of pecans pie pecan has a whopping 466 calories. It is the spirit of the holiday that matters more than the calories. That is what i tell myself. I will do the same. Of polk county boy is a polk county boy is spreading the spirit of giving. He is donating all of his toys for his birthday to the tots for kids toy drive. He says he is plenty of toys at home and wanted to help the kids in need. The chief gave him something special, gift of his own, a badge. This makes you an official Police Officer with the Lakeland Police office here. We do Mission Trips and feces a lot of kids in priority so he feels for that and wants to make their lives better. He admits it was hard to give up some of those toys. If you want to follow his example the Lakeland Police department is accepting toys through december 15. This thanksgiving i am thankful for ethan. You have heard about a horse whisper but what about a turkey was for . We will introduce you we will introduce you to woman that claims she knows what horses are thinking. Will also take a look at Small Business saturday. Lets take you outside on this thanksgiving morning. It is a Beautiful Day we wish all of you happy thanksgiving. We will have a look at whether coming up in just 3 minutes. Were non stop, weve gotta have our extra protein. Oikos triple zero greek non fat yogurt has 15 grams of protein. And zero holding me back oikos triple zero. Be unstoppable. 4 58 on this thanksgiving and a beautiful thanksgiving it is. It is a little warmer than this time yesterday the very comfortable, 62 degrees with calm winds. The humidity is slightly higher but not at an uncomfortable level. It will be a warm thanksgiving with an afternoon high of 81 degrees. The average high for today is 76. We will see a few passing clouds, certainly no rainfall. For tonight we are dropping above average overnight tonight into tomorrow morning i expect pretty wife fog to develop. I will let you know what that means for the rest of your black friday forecast and as we head into the we can all coming up. Youre watching news channel 8 goodygoody turkey gobble, thousands are lacing up their shoes for the turkey trot. What is new this year were also at metropolitan ministries this morning for the kitchen is bustling with activity as they prepare to serve hundreds of meals this holiday morning. Plus shopping local as you shop remember to shop local businesses. It could help our economy go grow. Good morning. Welcome to