Tag: Weather

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Blogging Geography Travel Weather

El Niño Winter

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. Exactly 22 weeks ago I wrote about the impending El Niño Winter which had already gotten off to a strong start with severe weather and record-cold temperatures so early in the season (middle of October).

We’re now on the other side of that quite unusual winter season, and I have the final report right here.

This actually made national news early in February: It was apparently the cloudiest / gloomiest December and January in modern recorded history in Central and South Florida. (Records go back to 1941.) Cloud cover was about 70% of the time during those 62 days – almost double the average percentage.

It was also a consistently chilly winter season – but not record-breaking. In fact – it was quite an “average” winter season as far as temperatures were concerned – with no extremes. Here in South Central Florida – 40s in the morning were very common – more common than normal – but 30s were rare – mostly confined to pockets of North Central Florida. Here in Sebring – we had no 30s at all, but we had 38 mornings in the 40s. (This is actually the first winter season that I’ve personally collected weather data for Sebring, so I can’t compare that to previous seasons.)

Mornings in the 40s by month:
November = 3
December = 8
January = 14
February = 12
March = 1

We also had 22 days where we were stuck in the 60s. Combined – we had 60 days and nights with highs in the 60s or lows in the 40s. Those are called “cool” days, and they represent the number of days where the temperature did not reach 70°F plus the number of nights where the temperature dropped below 50°F.

While I was living down in Homestead Florida (South Miami-Dade County) – I was used to about 15 “cool” days per winter season (usually about evenly split). This season – Homestead recorded only 4 “cool” days – all days just below 70°F. For the first time in modern recorded history – no 40s were recorded during the entire winter season, but there was an abundance of early-morning temperatures in the 50s (more than normal). Excessive cloud cover prevented maximum radiational cooling, and that kept many of the usual 40s from occurring.

Rainfall-wise it was a little wetter than normal during the peak of our dry season (7 months in South Florida / 8 months in Central Florida). In fact – some portions along our immediate Gulf Coast actually received more rain during this El Niño Winter season than they did during the rainy season last summer. El Niño has actually ended an extreme drought along the coast.

It was a strange winter season due to a strong El Niño. It was the strongest El Niño since the strongest one ever recorded 8 years ago at the end of 2015. It’s now starting to wane, and perhaps we’ll get a La Niña develop before the end of the year. Some forecasters believe that a La Niña could even develop as early as this summer, but I’m thinking that it’ll be a slower transition from El Niño to Neutral to La Niña during the rest of this year.

Want to learn more about El Niño (and La Niña) ? The NOAA does a very good job of explaining it here.

Next #TravelThursday – I’m on the road again on a trip that’s nearly 40 years in the making. Hopefully the weather cooperates. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2024 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

Categories
Blogging Geography Travel Weather

El Niño Winter

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. I was previously planning to write about “The Cars Of Sebring” as a continuation of last Thursday’s fascinating post on “The Birds Of Sebring”, but I decided to change the script and write about the weather instead. (It’s always an easy subject to write about for me.) Don’t worry – those cars will be reported on next Thursday (unless I call another audible).

It’s been a cold week so far here in the Heartland of Florida. (As a refresher – the Heartland is that mostly rural inland region of South-Central Florida that’s southeast of Tampa and southwest of Orlando.)

Due to a plunging jet stream and trough in the east with several strong cold fronts sweeping through – December and January-like temperatures invaded the Heartland (and all of Florida). The 50s actually made it all the way south to the Everglades in South Florida, and the 40s (even mid-40s) poured into the northern suburbs of the Tampa Bay area. We actually set some record low daytime high temperatures this past Monday and Tuesday – with the low-70s – or about 15°F below normal. (Our normal high for this time of the year is still the mid-80s, and our normal low is still the low-70s here in Sebring.)

We dipped down to 52°F here in my part of Sebring with wind chills around 48°F on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at dawn. It felt good and weird – like we suddenly plunged into winter after 5 months of a hotter and dryer than normal summer. I had to dig-in to my limited winter clothing collection.

Our rainy season has ended. September 30TH is generally the unofficial end of the rainy season here in the Heartland. (It’s October 15TH in South Florida.) We’re now in our 7-to-8-month dry season when we get just 30% of our annual rainfall.

But it’s an El Niño Winter, so that means cooler and wetter than normal for Florida (all regions). So far – it’s living up to its reputation. This is (already) our strongest El Niño since the Winter of 2015-2016, and that was one of the strongest ever recorded. (This one likely won’t be as strong.)

Unfortunately – El Niño Winters also bring severe weather to Florida, as the leading edge of this early winter weather arrived after a confirmed 6 tornados (EF0 to EF2) in the Tampa Bay area last week.

Fun Fact: That strong El Niño Winter of 2015-2016 ? I recorded an unprecedented 13 days in Homestead Florida that we did not reach 70°F. (Normal is 6.)

Want to learn more about El Niño (and La Niña) ? The NOAA does a very good job of explaining it here.

So – it should be a very interesting winter season here in Florida. I’ll keep watching and studying it just like I’ve done for the past 45 years, and I’ll even post pictures of it occasionally.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll tell you all about the cars of Sebring – unless I change my mind again. Let’s keep traveling together.

All rights reserved (c) 2023 Christopher M. Day, CountUp

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Weather

Rain In Homestead: The Continuing Saga

7.86 inches of rain officially at Homestead ARB FL – that’s how much we got during the entire month of July. It’s a bit below average.

Add that to the 11.46 inches in June and the 1.96 inches during the second half of May, and so far during this rainy season we’ve received over 21 inches of rain.

But hold the umbrella right there my friend. We all know how extremely localized our summertime showers and thunderstorms can be. Sure an exact location on the air base has received over 21 inches of rain, but what about the surrounding area in and around Homestead ?

Generally you can estimate the total precipitation of a particular location (such as your neighbourhood) over an extended period of time within two inches in either direction of a nearby official reporting location; therefore, it is reasonable to state that ‘the Homestead area’ has thus far received anywhere from 20 to 24 inches of rain since the middle of May.

This stuff excites me !  😀