Florida Weather

[jinftl]

What is interesting is that today's high in fort lauderdale was only 4 degrees below the average of 81. The low of 56 was 9 deg below normal....overall departure from normal of 6.5 degrees for the day....cool for sure, but certainly not unprecedented...but considering saturdays high/low of 88/77 (avg = 83), the drop in temps is noticeable!

Something about this date wants to be a cool one in fort lauderdale...actual hi/lows reported:
11/17/08 - 77/56
11/17/07 - 76/57

Warmest spots in Florida that I could find today:-

Pembroke Pines FL 77F
Ft Lauderdale Airport FL 77F

Compared to the frigid 30F at Crestview early this morning.

-justin-

[JonathanBelles]

Can I change the title to Cold Going to be very very cool, but I like it!!

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

37*F, thermometer 6 feet off the ground.

[JonathanBelles]

37*F, thermometer 6 feet off the ground.

when?

[jinftl]

is this your fridge thermometer? Tampa reporting 51 deg and St. Pete reporting 58 deg as of 11pm.

This cold front is getting more epic by the hour...reports of ice on miami beach at 11pm...of course, the ice is crushed and in a drink, but the night is young!

37*F, thermometer 6 feet off the ground.

[dizzyfish]

It is going to be sooooo cold tomorrow. Yes fact, change the title to cold!!!

Sounds like I will be moving plants and wrapping the pipes when I get home today.

[tropicana]

Coldest lows this morning in Florida:-
in the Panhandle....
Crestview 37F and Tallahassee 39F

Balmiest lows:
in the Keys of course....
Marathon 62F Key West 64F

-justin-

[jinftl]

How long will the chill last? Latest NWS office tabular forecasts across the state:


Extended forecasts from NWS Jacksonville:

TODAY WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
NOV 18 NOV 19 NOV 20 NOV 21 NOV 22 NOV 23 NOV 24
GAINESVILLE
/58 27/57 32/69 43/65 38/69 42/69 43/71

JACKSONVILLE
/56 28/56 32/66 44/63 41/65 43/64 45/68


Extended forecasts from NWS Tallahassee:

TODAY WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
NOV 18 NOV 19 NOV 20 NOV 21 NOV 22 NOV 23 NOV 24
TALLAHASSEE
/58 25/58 28/70 39/65 33/64 36/66 39/70

PANAMA CITY
/59 32/60 42/70 49/62 44/62 45/64 50/67


Extended forecasts from NWS Melbourne:

TODAY WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
NOV 18 NOV 19 NOV 20 NOV 21 NOV 22 NOV 23 NOV 24
VERO BEACH
/69 44/64 44/71 46/71 54/72 59/73 59/75

ORLANDO
/64 38/62 39/69 47/68 50/70 51/71 53/74


Extended Forecasts from NWS Tampa:

TODAY WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
NOV 18 NOV 19 NOV 20 NOV 21 NOV 22 NOV 23 NOV 24
Tampa
/67 36/62 43/70 53/73 55/74 57/74 54/73

Fort Myers
/71 41/66 46/74 53/76 57/78 59/78 60/78


Extended Forecasts from NWS Miami:

TODAY WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
NOV 18 NOV 19 NOV 20 NOV 21 NOV 22 NOV 23 NOV 24
NAPLES
/71 44/67 47/71 53/77 55/79 58/79 61/75

MIAMI
/75 52/70 55/74 57/77 60/77 63/78 65/80


Extended Forecasts from NWS Key West:

TODAY WED THU FRI SAT SUN MON
NOV 18 NOV 19 NOV 20 NOV 21 NOV 22 NOV 23 NOV 24
Key West
/71 62/69 62/72 67/74 68/74 70/76 72/78

[gatorcane]

Currently 42*F at my house; far from the 57*F at the Saint Petersburg official
station; talk about microclimates.

Indeed Pinellas County has one of the more distinct macroclimates in the state of Florida. The Southern part of the county is a peninsula surrounded by water on all sides but the north. In fact the SE part of the county (downtown St. Petersburg and old northeast) can be up 10 degrees warmer than locations away from the bay in Hillsborough county. The northern part of pinellas county does not benefit from the warmth of Tampa Bay during cold fronts though and is quite a bit colder than the Southern part of the county. The vegetation differences within the county show the microclimate. The Southern part of the county can support Royal Palms and Coconut palms (coconut palms along the coastal areas of southern county only). The northern part of the county does not support these types of palms and is largely dominated by pines, maples, oaks, and scrub palms with high tolerances to cold -- in fact the northern part of the county looks similar to "up north" in many ways (including the rolling hills that are not present in South county)

[jinftl]

Reminds me some of the differences that can be found between the climate on Miami Beach (barrier island....Biscayne Bay to the west, Atlantic to the east) and areas inland even just 10 miles away...

Total Annual Rainfall is 46.85" on Miami Beach, while annual rainfall at Miami International Airport (less than 10 miles to the west) averages 60.00" - over 13" difference. The seabreezes tend to stabilize the air over the beach....with the sea breeze convergences that lead to heavy summer storms taking place inland a bit. There are many days, where it is sunny on the beach, clear as you look east over the atlantic, and huge thunderstorm build-up off to the west.

The ocean effect leads to warmer average nights on Miami Beach than at the airport for all 12 months. For example, the average low temp in December is 64.8 deg on Miami Beach and 61.8 deg at the airport. During wintertime, there can be the 10-15 degree differences you mention in St. Pete.

At the same time, the high temps are the opposite...it is warmer in terms of average high temp at the airport than on Miami Beach by a couple of degrees for all 12 months. Interesting stat - Miami Beach averages only 16.8 days above 90 deg each year....while less than 10 miles inland, the airport averages 62.5 days over 90. But Miami Beach also has many nights where the low doesn't drop below 80 in the summer...reflective of the temp spread you might see in the Caribbean.

Currently 42*F at my house; far from the 57*F at the Saint Petersburg official
station; talk about microclimates.

Indeed Pinellas County has one of the more distinct macroclimates in the state of Florida. The Southern part of the county is a peninsula surrounded by water on all sides but the north. In fact the SE part of the county (downtown St. Petersburg and old northeast) can be up 10 degrees warmer than locations away from the bay in Hillsborough county. The northern part of pinellas county does not benefit from the warmth of Tampa Bay during cold fronts though and is quite a bit colder than the Southern part of the county. The vegetation differences within the county show the microclimate. The Southern part of the county can support Royal Palms and Coconut palms (coconut palms along the coastal areas of southern county only). The northern part of the county does not support these types of palms and is largely dominated by pines, maples, oaks, and scrub palms with high tolerances to cold -- in fact the northern part of the county looks similar to "up north" in many ways (including the rolling hills that are not present in South county)

[Scorpion]

Getting down to 36 here with windchills in the upper 20's. Wow, very cold for November.

[Extremeweatherguy]

Getting down to 36 here with windchills in the upper 20's. Wow, very cold for November.

Yeah, 36F in Orlando during the month of November is incredible. It has been many many years since the city has seen it get this cold prior to Thanksgiving.

[feederband]

Wind chills in the upper 20 forcasted as well here...Plus its always 4 to 5 degrees cooler in our area for some reason...A couple more years and the palms will be to tall to cover...I was counting on Global Warming when I planted them....Damit!!!

[gatorcane]

Getting down to 36 here with windchills in the upper 20's. Wow, very cold for November.

Yeah, 36F in Orlando during the month of November is incredible. It has been many many years since the city has seen it get this cold prior to Thanksgiving.

Wind chills in the upper 20 forcasted as well here...Plus its always 4 to 5 degrees cooler in our area for some reason...A couple more years and the palms will be to tall to cover...I was counting on Global Warming when I planted them....Damit!!!

Actually its a widespread issue for those living in Central Florida and even north Florida. Unless you live very near the coast or in a microclimate that protects your area from freezing, its inevitable that one of these cold fronts is going to be strong enough to wipe out those tropical plants and palms that do not survive freezing temperatures. The Tampa area is a great example. It can go several years without a strong enough cold snap to kill off those nonnative trees such as coconut palms, Royal Palms, or foxtail palms. So what happens is that you start seeing them "pop up" as years go by without any strong enough cold snaps. Then when that one strong one hits, nearly all of these tropicals are wiped out overnight. For example, I visited Epcot recently and was surprised that Epcot has Foxtail palms in their landscaping. Those are gonners when the big cold snap hits again (e.g. like the 1989 cold snap).

The current cold front is not going to be strong enough to wipe out those tropicals I am talking about. But here we are in mid November and these fronts are rather strong so its possible (but not inevitable) that this year may be the winter that brings that serious arctic blast down from Canada come January or February. When that front finally arrives, there is going to be widespread damage to tropical plants across much of Florida. The only counties that typically can survive these major cold outbreaks are those south of Lake O....Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe, and Collier County. Not by coincidence that is where you see Royal Palm, Coconut Palms, foxtails, etc growing "like weeds" in just about every corner of these counties.

[jinftl]

Looking at recent climate history, November 2006 was a chilly month in Miami…averaging 1.4 deg below normal, with a stretch of 10-15 degree below normal weather mid-month...much colder high temps than we are seeing this week (11/20/06 had a high of 65, 11/21/06 was only 63). December 2006 and January 2007 were very warm months…averaging 4-5 degrees above normal. In fact, the average temp was higher in December than in November for that year.


Informative post from Miamiensis Wx last month....not necessarily correct to assume cold weather in the fall in florida automatically means an even colder winter ahead...

The October 24, 2005 frontal passage was associated with the shortwave trough that contributed to Wilma's recurvature across southern Florida... the overnight lows on October 25 represented one of the coldest October events I have witnessed in southern Florida. The remarkably vivid manifestation of the Milky Way (and thousands of stars) in a dark post-Wilma world was certainly extremely memorable. Interestingly, this event was one of the coldest frontal passages of the 2005-2006 winter in south Florida; in fact, the vast majority of the subsequent events did not yield lows as frigid as the October event, and the mean winter temperatures were generally above average in south Florida.

The general evolution of longwave patterns occasionally lends credence to the hypothesis that early frigid passages precede a warmer December/January/February/March (depending on the timing), especially in the current -PDO/+AMO regime. I believe previous climatological data indicates the Southeast ridge is more prominent during -PDO/+AMO regimes, and the angle of the cold air advection is not as favorable for widespread, severe, and persistent cold outbreaks in southeastern Florida. That fact would certainly partially explain the warmer winters and lack of more severe cold snaps on the southern peninsula in recent (post-2000) years. The general oceanic/atmospheric patterns varied considerably (from recent years) in the 1970s through the 1990s, which is consistent with the greater frequency of severe cold events in south Florida during the period.

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

is this your fridge thermometer? Tampa reporting 51 deg and St. Pete reporting 58 deg as of 11pm.

This cold front is getting more epic by the hour...reports of ice on miami beach at 11pm...of course, the ice is crushed and in a drink, but the night is young!

37*F, thermometer 6 feet off the ground.

No it is a valid, official fact.

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... KFLSTPET21

[Tampa Bay Hurricane]

37*F, thermometer 6 feet off the ground.

when?

12:12 AM Tuesday November 18th, 2008.

Another station had a similar reading very close by:

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... KFLSTPET21

Validates my measurement.- It was 35*F at this station at the exact time it was 37*F at mine.

[jdray]

I get the same kind of variances at my house, yet the official could be 10 degrees either way.

for instance, it could be 32F at JIA, and it will read 27F at my house. (LaCrosse WS-2310)

[tropicana]

Fort Lauderdale FL has come through again as the warm spot in Florida... 77F at the airport for today's high Tue Nov 18/08.

-justin-

[jinftl]

I apologize and stand corrected...almost reminds me of what happens in some of the 'hollows' in new england....when those areas can drop down to even 15 or 20 degrees colder than nearby cities.

37*F, thermometer 6 feet off the ground.

when?

12:12 AM Tuesday November 18th, 2008.

Another station had a similar reading very close by:

http://www.wunderground.com/weatherstat ... KFLSTPET21

Validates my measurement.- It was 35*F at this station at the exact time it was 37*F at mine.