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I find it amazing that the cold fronts can reach that far south in the first place... I guess it goes to show the power of arctic air even if the freezing weather only lasts a matter of hours.
Florida has two bodies of water, and the warm Gulf Stream to stop arctic fronts, Texas is flat...
Florida has two bodies of water, and the warm Gulf Stream to stop arctic fronts, Texas is flat...
That has been my point on a number of threads as well, Zone. Here in S. Texas, Portland, where I am at, has been down to as low as 12°F, although our average low in the coldest part of January is 50°F. If Texas were situated like Florida by having two bodies of water around them, we would most likely be just as warm, if not warmer than S. Florida!
As it stands now, our weather here in Portland is also equivilant to Central Florida during the winter. One thing that does happen in S. Texas that doesn't happen in Florida during the winter, is that sometimes we will get a Southwest flow here, bringing dry, HOT weather here, and temps will skyrocket into the 90s when that happens (even in the midst of January)!! Obviously, that won't happen in Florida, as a Southwest flow would push air up from the Gulf, which would simply maintain the temps where they are at.
The most interesting differences between regions located close to the same latitude is often what the difference is in average lows... instead of the average highs:
According to the NWS McAllen site…the average overnight low for Padre Island in January is 51 F…close to the average low of 50 F for Orlando and 48 F for Daytona Beach – but fairly far from the average low of 60 F for Miami/Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and 65 F for Key West. I think that’s really the biggest difference between deep south Texas and deep south Florida…the nights are signifcanly cooler on average in south Texas than in south Florida. Still, beyond south Florida…nights are warmer in deep south Texas than in places like north Florida, San Diego, CA, or Phoenix, AZ.
The most interesting differences between regions located close to the same latitude is often what the difference is in average lows... instead of the average highs:
According to the NWS McAllen site…the average overnight low for Padre Island in January is 51 F…close to the average low of 50 F for Orlando and 48 F for Daytona Beach – but fairly far from the average low of 60 F for Miami/Palm Beach, Ft. Lauderdale and 65 F for Key West. I think that’s really the biggest difference between deep south Texas and deep south Florida…the nights are signifcanly cooler on average in south Texas than in south Florida. Still, beyond south Florida…nights are warmer in deep south Texas than in places like north Florida, San Diego, CA, or Phoenix, AZ.
This can be entirely contributed, of course, to the two bodies of warm water that surround central and southern FL. Northern Florida doesn't have this benefit, and artic fronts make more of a regular apperance due to to this factor. This is also why cold fronts and artic fronts sometimes stall before swiping through the Texas southern coastline, as it is butting up against the Gulf air.
If you also look at the same NWS website (Brownsville), look at Rio Grande City. It is also near the far southern border, yet its more western locale allows it to have an average overnight low in January of 44.7, which is considerably cooler than Corpus Christi, which has an average overnight low of about 46, with the Corpus Christi Naval Station averaging an overnight low in January of 51.
Its all about the water for overnight lows, plain and simple.
This can be entirely contributed, of course, to the two bodies of warm water that surround central and southern FL. Northern Florida doesn't have this benefit, and artic fronts make more of a regular apperance due to to this factor. This is also why cold fronts and artic fronts sometimes stall before swiping through the Texas southern coastline, as it is butting up against the Gulf air.
If you also look at the same NWS website (Brownsville), look at Rio Grande City. It is also near the far southern border, yet its more western locale allows it to have an average overnight low in January of 44.7, which is considerably cooler than Corpus Christi, which has an average overnight low of about 46, with the Corpus Christi Naval Station averaging an overnight low in January of 51.
Its all about the water for overnight lows, plain and simple.
Ian
For the longest time we have been considering taking a trip in Feb or March to South Padre Island. Daytime highs according to the NWS site are in the upper 60’s in Jan/Feb…and in the lower 70’s in March. This sounds quite nice for outdoor exploring, walking, etc. The daily highs in south Florida are only about 10 F warmer…Miami average 77/61 F in February for example.
My question is that could one sit on the beach on a day in Feb with typical shorts/t-shirt and be comfortable. If one stayed at one of the resort hotels on South Padre Island could they swim in the pool on a typical sunny Feb day? I know I have seen several spring break shows where you see people in bathing suites and it sure looks nice and warm many times in deep winter. I realize that there are cooler /warmer than normal days…but I’m talking on an average sunny Feb day. I’m not greedy…an 80 F + February day would be fine too…but I am equally happy just sitting in the sun if it’s in the lower/mid 70’s. We have been thinking of doing a South Padre Island and San Antonio combo trip (we would drive between the two). What is the best month for steady weather...Dec, Jan, Feb, or March?
Here, click on the link below and scroll down a little and you'll see the monthly temps for DEC 2009, on top of the calendar click on next month and you can see JAN and FEB and MAR temps from last year or previous years. Keep in mind last winter was a wetter and colder than usual winter, but with this info, you can make a better decision on when you think you want to go. The other link is San Antonio temps, but S.A. is about a 4-5 hour drive to South Padre Island, unless you go to Corpus.
For the longest time we have been considering taking a trip in Feb or March to South Padre Island. Daytime highs according to the NWS site are in the upper 60’s in Jan/Feb…and in the lower 70’s in March. This sounds quite nice for outdoor exploring, walking, etc. The daily highs in south Florida are only about 10 F warmer…Miami average 77/61 F in February for example.
My question is that could one sit on the beach on a day in Feb with typical shorts/t-shirt and be comfortable. If one stayed at one of the resort hotels on South Padre Island could they swim in the pool on a typical sunny Feb day? I know I have seen several spring break shows where you see people in bathing suites and it sure looks nice and warm many times in deep winter. I realize that there are cooler /warmer than normal days…but I’m talking on an average sunny Feb day. I’m not greedy…an 80 F + February day would be fine too…but I am equally happy just sitting in the sun if it’s in the lower/mid 70’s. We have been thinking of doing a South Padre Island and San Antonio combo trip (we would drive between the two). What is the best month for steady weather...Dec, Jan, Feb, or March?
Due to the Gulf, South Padre stays cooler(and warmer during the night) then inland areas, so February might be a little chilly for water sports(all the people you see on the beaches during the time are northerners), but certainly not cold. Average lows are much more relevant then average highs, South Padre's high/low for Jan is around 55/67F. Tampa's is 50/70 while St.Petersburg's is 54/69. St.Pete is much warmer in absolute lows then Tampa or Orlando(50/70).
From what I understand…a lot of these “deep freezes” are really not all that deep. This last big region wide freeze in Florida (before this past January) event…was the January 1989 event. In both these cases from what I read…temps remained a few degrees above/below freezing for only a matter of hours. So not only are freezes at these latitudes infrequent but they are very short duration events. My parents have several coconut palms in their yard (condo common areas ) in Hollywood, Florida… and they were totally unfazed by the frosty conditions for a few hours.
One of the most interesting graphs I ever saw about cold and Florida…was from the book “Florida Weather” by M. Winsberg (1980). In one section…the book shows the total number of hours that NWS stations reported a temperature of 32 F (0 C) or lower between 1937 and 1967 for various locations around Florida: Orlando reported 694 hours for example…Melbourne and Ft Meyers reported 303 hours…and Miami reported 71 hours over the period from 1937 to 1967 (the data used in this book).
Think about that for a moment: Of the 262,800 hours between 1937 and 1967 (30 years/8760 hours)…only 71 hours in Miami managed to get down to 32 F or lower – lol.
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Interesting statistics. I should look for that book since I've always been fascinated with Florida's weather.
I'm aware that the freezes usually don't last long, but the temperatures dropped well below freezing across much of the south. I guess I was referring more to the freezes of 1985 and 1989 when temperatures were in the single digits and teens (also was mainly referring to Texas since the cold there is usually more extreme than Florida). I'm curious as to how the palms handled such unusually cold weather.
Focusing on Florida for a moment, according to wunderground (not sure how accurate the data is), on December 24, 1989 in Miami, the temperature was at freezing or below for approximately seven hours. On December 25th, the temperature was at or below freezing for four or five hours. Going further north, on December 24th, the temperature in West Palm Beach was at or below freezing for approximately eleven hours (dropped to 28 F). On December 25th, the temperature was at or below freezing for seven or eight hours. I find the length of time it was below freezing in much of South Florida quite impressive, considering that this is South Florida we're talking about - lol. Orlando dropped into the low to mid 20s (don't know how many hours the city was below freezing) in December of 1989 and dropped down to 19 F in January of 1985, and North Florida was even colder (as would be expected) in 1985 and 1989. Looks as though there was a record freeze in 1983 as well. I don't feel like researching any more data, but it would be interesting to see what the effects of the deep freeze was in the south.
Interesting statistics. I should look for that book since I've always been fascinated with Florida's weather.
I'm aware that the freezes usually don't last long, but the temperatures dropped well below freezing across much of the south. I guess I was referring more to the freezes of 1985 and 1989 when temperatures were in the single digits and teens (also was mainly referring to Texas since the cold there is usually more extreme than Florida). I'm curious as to how the palms handled such unusually cold weather.
Focusing on Florida for a moment, according to wunderground (not sure how accurate the data is), on December 24, 1989 in Miami, the temperature was at freezing or below for approximately seven hours. On December 25th, the temperature was at or below freezing for four or five hours. Going further north, on December 24th, the temperature in West Palm Beach was at or below freezing for approximately eleven hours (dropped to 28 F). On December 25th, the temperature was at or below freezing for seven or eight hours. I find the length of time it was below freezing in much of South Florida quite impressive, considering that this is South Florida we're talking about - lol. Orlando dropped into the low to mid 20s (don't know how many hours the city was below freezing) in December of 1989 and dropped down to 19 F in January of 1985, and North Florida was even colder (as would be expected) in 1985 and 1989. Looks as though there was a record freeze in 1983 as well. I don't feel like researching any more data, but it would be interesting to see what the effects of the deep freeze was in the south.
I’m certainly no expert on historic Florida cold…but a wild guess is that there might be some error in those numbers for Miami and West Palm Beach for the 1989 cold event in December. Seven hours below freezing in Miami seems like a real stretch. Even last year…on three of the coldest days since 1970 and 1927 at Miami…the temp only stayed in the mid 30’s for about two hours according the NWS office in Miami. But who knows. Below is the daily minimum temperatures for December for NWS Miami from 1895 to 2010. According to this - the 1989 event had a low of 30.0 F and the 1983 event had a low of 33 F.
Lowest Daily Minimum Temperature (degrees F)
Days: 12/1 - 12/31
Length of period: 1 day
Years: 1895-2010
So it looks like low temps below about 25 F have occurred on only a few January nights over the past half century or longer. Your right, the January 1985 event is the coldest event in the last 62 years. It also stands out that no January from 1948 to 1966 (18 years) had a low less than 25 F in Orlando. Also, if you take out the three big cold events of the 1980’s (1985, 1982, and 1981)…on only 4 nights did the temp fall to 25 F or lower in Orlando from 1948 to 2010 (62 years) –lol. I would think that cold that is this fleeting would have little effect on palms long term. This past January in Miami after the low went down to a record 35 F on January 11th... it was in the 80’s 5 days later. In most of central/southern Florida...a 75 F or 80 F day is always just a few days away - lol.
I guess the bigger question and probably a more economically important question to ask in relation to these freezes in Florida and South Texas is how did they effect the citrus industry? Every now and again when Florida gets a cold snap, you hear about millions of dollars worth of citrus lost and I'm wondering how many hours below freezing does it take for damage to citrus trees to occur in Florida and South Texas. In some ways, it seems the citrus trees are more frost sensitive than coconuts if coconuts can come through the freezes unfazed yet many acres of citrus trees are distroyed.
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