Summer 2021 sizzles into record books

Summer not only hotter than usual but humidity values skyrocketed throughout the season

Cocoa Beach. (WKMG)

With meteorological summer season officially in the books, it’s time to recap how Central Florida faired through summer 2021.

Wondering what the difference is between meteorological and astrological seasons? Click here to read all about it.

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Rainfall Recap

Looking back, the wet season started in early June across the area, bringing consistent afternoon showers to start off the summer. Along with sea breeze storms, we received about 3-4 inches of rain across some areas due to Tropical Storm Elsa in early July.

Overall rainfall totals for the summer ended up being rather variable due to the scattered coverage of showers and storms, but overall amounts hovered near to above normal.

According to the National Weather Service, total rainfall amounts across east Central Florida this summer were typically around 18-23 inches for much of the area. However, wetter than normal conditions with locally higher amounts of up to 25-30 inches were observed, especially across areas near to northwest of the I-4 corridor.

On the opposite side of the pendulum, there were some isolated spots that received less than 16 inches across areas in Osceola and spots along the coast like New Smyrna Beach area.

Summer 2021: Central Florida Rainfall Recap

Rainfall Rankings:

  • Daytona Beach: 20.64″ (1.11″ above normal)
  • Leesburg: 23.70″ (4.21″ above normal)
  • Sanford: 23.24″ (0.99″ above normal)
  • Orlando: 19.64″ (3.56 below normal)
  • Melbourne: 18.82″ (1.45″ below normal)

Temperature Recap

When it comes to temperatures this summer, not only was it hotter than usual, humidity values skyrocketed through August. This led to average temperatures for the season, ranking within the top 10 warmest on record for several of our primary climate sites across the area.

While we did see a few daily record highs set throughout the summer, it was the significant increase in record overnight lows that brought our overall summertime average close to record-breaking for the season.

This was especially true in Leesburg, where the record warm overnight low was tied or exceeded almost half of the month of August.

Summer 2021 Central Florida Temperature Rankings

Temperature Rankings

  • Daytona Beach: 81.9° (0.6° above normal)
  • Leesburg: 83.4° (0.6° above normal) *Tied with 2007 as the 6th warmest summer on record
  • Sanford: 83.0° (near normal)
  • Orlando: 83.3° (1.1° above normal) *Tied with 2019 as the 8th warmest Summer on record
  • Melbourne: 82.4° (0.4° above normal) *Tied with 1980 as the 9th warmest Summer on record

About the Author:

Candace Campos joined the News 6 weather team in 2015.

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