Halloween morning will dawn with temperatures more common for late December than Oct. 31 with a chilly official forecast of 59 degrees in West Palm Beach and even lower mercury readings near Lake Okeechobee.
A cold front, which is forecast to push through South Florida the evening of Oct. 29, is dragging Canadian air behind it, while also protecting the Sunshine State from the brutality of Hurricane Melissa. Melissa is forecast to pass over the southeastern Bahamas as a Category 2 storm before moving out to sea.
“This is associated with a trough steering Melissa out to sea so we are getting cold air and it’s lifting the hurricane away,” said Sammy Hadi, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Miami. “This is the first front that sweeps through with a decent northwesterly direction.”
The normal overnight low for this time of year is 69 degrees in West Palm Beach. It doesn’t typically get to 59 degrees until Dec. 29.
Daytime high temperatures on Friday are expected to only climb into the upper 70s.
Early evening temperatures Friday for trick-or-treating will be in the low 70s to upper 60s along coastal Palm Beach County. Areas further inland could be slightly chillier.
Weekend temperatures will start to creep back up with highs in the low 80s and overnight lows in the mid-60s.
“It looks like it will sustain one to two days,” Hadi said about the cooler weather. “The main thing is, it’s going to feel pleasant outside with mostly dry and comfortable temperatures.”
And while the air will be significantly cooler than normal, there will be no falling iguanas.
“It’s still too warm for that,” Hadi said.
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officials said 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 lizards are immobilized by the cold, their digestive systems sour and they die from bacterial infections. Iguanas that fall from trees onto streets are also in danger of becoming road kill.
The last significant die-off of iguanas caused by cold weather occurred during the winter of 2010 when, between Jan. 2 and Jan. 13, West Palm Beach’s overnight lows dipped into the 30s nine times.
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: Cold front to bring December temperatures to South Florida for Halloween morning
Reporting by Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
