A cold front is forecast to scrape through Florida ahead of the New Year, dropping overnight temperatures into the 20s for areas of the Panhandle and dipping into the 40s and 50s in the southern reaches of the Sunshine State.
The timeline for the chill has waffled over the past few days but could hit the Panhandle on Dec. 30 and reach South Florida midweek with the cool air sticking around for two to three days.
While the cold will struggle to top the unusual winter whack that occurred in November, it will be a change from warmer-than-normal temperatures that settled over Florida in December.
“This front isn’t terribly unusual, but it will be a shock to the body,” said AccuWeather lead forecaster Alex DaSilva. “This month has been pretty warm, and then all of a sudden, here comes the cold front, and I think that’s what will be notable for people.”
Most weather gauges monitored by the Southeast Regional Climate Center show average temperatures in the Peninsula ranging from 1 to 4 degrees warmer than normal for December as of Christmas Day. Average temperatures in North Florida have been nearly normal.
Still, in the week preceding Christmas, average temperatures from the Panhandle through the Keys have been as high as 7 degrees warmer in Pensacola and 6 degrees warmer in West Palm Beach.
“We’ll be warm and foggy the next couple of days, and then here comes the cold Monday (Dec. 29) into Tuesday,” said David Reese, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service office in Tallahassee.
The change in temperatures comes as an area of low pressure charges out of Canada and across the northern reaches of the U.S., promising snow to parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut.
AccuWeather meteorologists are predicting up to 6 inches of snow over northeastern Pennsylvania, northern and central New Jersey, much of New York state and southern and central New England.
By the time the cooler temps reach Florida, the air is expected to be wrung dry of precipitation, with little to no rain in the forecast.
“We may have some scattered showers for Tuesday afternoon. It’s not going to be very active,” said Tony Reynes, a meteorologist with the NWS office in Miami. “We’ll have three cold mornings in a row, probably into Friday (Jan. 2).”
But it will be abnormally warm ahead of the front, with the high temperature on Dec. 29 reaching 83 degrees in West Palm Beach. That’s 8 degrees warmer than normal as measured at Palm Beach International Airport, and 10 degrees warmer than the high temperature forecast for New Year’s Eve.
Overnight lows in South Florida will range from the 40s inland to 50s at the coast, which means cold-adverse iguanas may be temporarily paralyzed.
“In Glades County, northern Hendry County, around Lake Okeechobee and inland Palm Beach, that’s where you may see some problems with frozen iguanas,” Reynes said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials say iguanas can become either immobilized or sluggish when temperatures hit between 40 and 50 degrees. Longer cold snaps with overcast skies that prevent basking for warmth can be deadly as the paralyzed iguanas become easy prey to vultures, bobcats and coyotes.
Also, when the reptiles are immobilized by the cold for longer periods of time, their digestive systems sour and they die from bacterial infections.
Daytime peak temperatures in the Panhandle for Dec. 31 are forecast to only reach into the upper 40s to low 50s. The normal high temperature in Tallahassee on New Year’s Eve is 64 degrees.
Reese said morning windchills on Dec. 31 could be as low as 25 degrees.
“This will be the third decent cold shot for us in the past month-and-a-half,” Reese said. “By Thursday (Jan. 1), we’ll be back up to a high of about 60 degrees.”
South Florida should see warming temperatures by Jan. 3 depending on when the front pushes through.
Kimberly Miller is a journalist for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA Today Network of Florida. She covers real estate, weather, and the environment. Subscribe to The Dirt for a weekly real estate roundup. If you have news tips, please send them to kmiller@pbpost.com. Help support our local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Florida cold front to bring freezing temps to state before New Year
Reporting by Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
