The state tourism industry calls it “Bragging Season”. To the weather community, the three-month period from December to February is referred to as meteorological winter. This year, however, many Floridians are asking themselves “what winter?”
According to State Climatologist David Zierden, nearly every reporting station in Florida recorded a warmer-than-average season.
“The statewide average for December through February will be in the top five warmest.”
Miami, Fort Lauderdale and Fort Myers all experienced the warmest winter season on record. The numbers in Miami are particularly notable. The National Weather Service tweeted Tuesday morning that the mercury soared past 80 degrees nearly 70 times over the 90-day period.
More details on the warmest meteorological winter (December through February) on record for #Miami & #FortLauderdale #SoFla #FLwx pic.twitter.com/vw5JMNBrGO
— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) March 1, 2017
David also added, “In the past two years, they (Miami) has only dropped below 50 degrees one time. That’s an unprecedented two-year stretch without cold days.”
Miami was 1 of 13 stations reporting this winter to be the warmest ever recorded.
During this winter as a whole, average temperatures at those recording sites were anywhere from three to four degrees above normal in Southeast Florida. The Panhandle experienced temperatures seven to eight degrees above normal. In Jacksonville, according to the National Weather Service, it was the warmest winter in 60 years.
Warmest winter in 60 yrs at Jacksonville & Warmest on Record at the Intl Airport location. Avg Temp 60.8F was 5.9F above normal #jaxwx #flwx pic.twitter.com/kAIJspYjBg
— NWS Jacksonville (@NWSJacksonville) March 1, 2017
The reporting stations are comparing this year’s winter temperatures with up to 144 years of data.
