ORLANDO, Fla. – The COLD OPEN we received with the turn of the calendar was absolutely off the rails. We saw historic temperatures through the state of Florida, smashing records among other things around town.
Monday started off freezing, but we’re rapidly warming back up to at least a cooler temp as opposed to the frigid conditions we’ve had to do battle with.
Get this though: there’s plenty more warmth to go around, especially after the first full week of February.
Despite Punxsutawney Phil having seen his shadow, it doesn’t immediately mean the Florida peninsula will stay in freezing or sub-freezing temperatures. We’re kind of an anomaly when compared to the way winter affects the other states across the nation.
It all boils down to what our large-scale pattern is doing and coming up here very soon, the atmospheric traffic jam holding everything up is about to clear out.
The more aggressive our features are, deep troughs or tall ridges, the slower everything tends to move. You ever get stuck on I-4 during afternoon rush hour? Oh, I’ll bet you have.
It’s exactly the same principle. The more cars on the road, the more you’re going to be slamming on those brakes.
When you have lots of built up energy, or cold vs. warm in different sections of North America, it really causes the jet stream to slow down and these features tend to get stuck.
That “winter rush hour” is about to temporarily settle down, meaning a ridge that’s been stationary over the Rockies driving the west coast folks’ temperatures up is getting ready to move our way.
We could start to see the return of 80-degree afternoons on the final approach to Valentine’s Day, or Friday the 13th.
All of next week in reality will be much kinder to Florida than the last few days have been. Our morning lows will be chilly to some, but mostly comfortable. Afternoons will require you removing whatever winter attire you may have taken with you as you headed out the door initially.
So yes, while it’s still very cold out now, change is already beginning to take place. We just have yet to catch up with the rest of the big picture.
Beyond Valentine’s Day and mid-February, there is a chance we’ll be getting ready to receive another huge dose of wintry weather conditions; all thanks to the same flip-flop in the pattern that’s about to occur now.
It doesn’t appear at first glance to cause nearly as much chaos and ruckus as this previous outbreak, but nevertheless stick with us for updates as we get closer in time.