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Florida on track to have one of the coldest winters in 15 years

So far, 2025 is off to a cold start! In fact, the end of 2024 was chilly too. November and December 2024 temperature averages were below State norms, by about 5°. And with another major Arctic blast headed our way early next week, with very cold weather expected most of the week, this could be one of the coldest winters in Florida since 2010.

Florida’s winter season is typically November-January, with January historically being the coldest month. A steady series of cold fronts has plunged the thermometer across the Sunshine State with below normal temperatures for most of the State. And that’s been unusual, even by Florida’s standards.

Climatology records from around the State, on average, show temperatures running 5-10° below the seasonal averages for this time of the year. Morning temperatures have been routinely about 5° degrees lower than normal. And in several cases, north Florida has seen temperatures below freezing multiple times this winter.

For example, according to the National Weather Service in Jacksonville, Jacksonville International Airport has already had 13 calendar days with low temperatures less than 32° F, just below the winter season average of 14 days. With several more days of potential morning freeze events on their way early next week, Northeast Florida is well on its way to one of the coldest winter seasons since 2010-2011. That season had 31 days of temps at or below 32 °.

Central Florida is also experiencing a colder than normal winter. The Tampa area daytime high was 56.5°F on January 15, 2025, which is 5.2°F below the five-year historical average of 61.7°F. And several other locations in Florida are having a similar colder than normal January as well.

In south Florida, on January 9th, Miami International airport had a high temperature of 67° with a morning low of 49°. That was 10.5° F cooler than January’s average. This week, the Arctic blast won’t quite reach south Florida but it will be cooler than normal. Daytime highs will be near 70° on average, with morning lows in the 50s and 60s.

This winter is expected to be influenced by La Niña. La Niña is a climate pattern that typically lasts from three to five years and happens when “cold waters in the Pacific push the jet stream northward,” according to NOAA.

La Niña is expected to bring warm, dry weather to the southern U.S. this winter, while pushing more cold weather and rainfall into northwest U.S. and Canada. So far, we haven’t seen much evidence of that. But there is a warm light at the end of this cold tunnel. According to NOAA, after this coming week, temperatures should slowly rebound back to normal.

For the record, the all-time coldest temperature for the State of Florida was on February 13, 1899. Tallahassee plummeted to -2°F. It remains the State record according to the National Weather Service. The all-time lowest high temperature of 22°F was also set on this day in Tallahassee.

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