How low will it go? The coldest weather of the year is coming to South Florida.
The coldest temperatures of the year are heading toward South Florida, just in time for the appearance of the Supermoon lunar eclipse on Sunday night and the Martin Luther King Jr. parade and holiday on Monday.
According to National Weather Service meteorologist Paxton Fell in the Miami office, Miami-Dade, Broward and the Florida east coast should see temperatures in the upper 40s Monday morning. The wind chill will make it feel even more “wintering,” with the bite of low to mid-40s, she said.
“Gusty winds and building seas” will also make conditions hazardous on the waters, with rip tides. Though, few but the most polar bear of tourists will likely want to swim on Monday when the high is only expected to climb into the mid-60s.
Temperatures in the upper 30s and low 40s are expected in the Lake Okeechobee region.
All of this is in addition to Winter Storm Harvey, which has already wrecked holiday weekend travel plans for many. Harvey has already led to winter storm watches or warnings for Chicago, Milwaukee, Boston, Hartford, Providence, Pittsburgh, Albany, Buffalo, Cleveland and Des Moines, according to the Weather Channel.
“Expect major flight delays and possibly some cancellations this weekend at the major Northeast hubs, including Boston-Logan, Newark, JFK, LaGuardia, Philadelphia, Dulles and Reagan National airports, the Weather Channel said. “Some significant delays” are also possible Saturday at Chicago O’Hare, Kansas City International Airport and other airports in the Midwest, Ohio Valley and interior Northeast.
Suddenly, temperatures in the 40s don’t sound so bad in South Florida.
But despite what feels like a chillier January than normal for South Florida — with the lows of 53 degrees happening both on Jan. 11 and on Wednesday, we’re not setting any cold records, Fell said.
In fact, it’s the contrary.
“Even though there have been a few cooler days this month, actually we’re running 2.1 degrees above normal,” she said.
For January, the average monthly temperature is about 70.1 degrees, and right now we are at 72.2 before the coming chill, according to the National Weather Service.
This story was originally published January 18, 2019 at 10:32 AM.
