How low did it go? Palm Beach County gets blast of cold weather but how long will it last?
MyRadar.com reported that Florida’s air is coming from the Arctic near the North Pole, bringing temperatures 20 to 25 degrees below average.
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- A cold outbreak brought frigid temperatures across Florida, with some cities breaking records.
- Palm Beach County experienced its coldest temperatures of the fall, with lows in the 40s.
- The cold snap was caused by Arctic air moving south due to a fissure in the polar vortex.
- Forecasters expected the cold temperatures to be short-lived, with warmer weather returning later in the week.
A cold outbreak brought frigid temperatures to Florida, including the coldest temperatures of the fall for Palm Beach County.
County residents woke to temperatures in the 40s the morning of Nov. 11, with Palm Beach International Airport recording a low of 45 degrees, just shy of the county’s official Veterans Day record of 42 degrees set in 1913.
The temperatures were cold enough to send stunned iguanas falling from trees, with Wellington reaching a low of 44 degrees as of 6:45 a.m. and Boca Raton getting down to 48 degrees. The drop in temperatures was driven by Arctic air that is seeping into the middle latitudes through a fissure in the polar vortex. North and northwest winds are moving the air south toward the state.
The website MyRadar.com reported that Florida’s air is coming from the Arctic near the North Pole, bringing temperatures 20 to 25 degrees below average.
But as quickly as the cold temperatures arrived, they’ll leave in a hurry.
The lower temperatures are only expected to last across South Florida for another day, with warmer weather forecast for the latter part of the week and the weekend, the National Weather Service’s Miami office said.
“We’ll remain chilly today (Nov. 11),” National Weather Service meteorologist Chris Fisher said. “We’re going to struggle to get into the 60s. Probably mid- to upper 60s is as warm as we’ll get today. But it’s kind of just a one-day cold snap for us.”
The temperatures are expected to rise as winds start to become more out of the northeast.
“We’ll gradually start to warm back up,” Fisher said. “Our lows tonight (Nov. 11) will be a lot warmer than they were this morning. We’re looking at probably low 50s for inland Palm Beach County and upper 50s across Palm Beach.”
The forecast for Nov. 12 calls for high temperatures in the low to mid-70s. By the weekend, high temperatures are forecast to be in the 80s.
While temperatures didn’t hit low records in Palm Beach County, some other Florida cities did break records.
Jacksonville saw average temperatures down to 28 degrees overnight, Weather Underground reported, breaking its previous record of 35. St. Augustine broke its record by 5 degrees.
Pensacola residents dealt with temperatures below freezing at 31 degrees overnight with some interior areas getting as low as the upper 20s, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record for Pensacola was 33 degrees.
Orlando hit 36 degrees, well below its previous record of 39 while on the southwest side of the state, both Fort Myers and Naples saw records broken.
According to data from Weather Underground, here are the low temps recorded between Nov. 11 and 12:
- Pensacola
- Low: 31
- Record: 33
- Historical average low: 51.9
- Panama City Beach
- Low: 37
- Record: 31
- Historical average low: 50.9
- Tallahassee
- Low: 28
- Record: 27
- Historical average low: 48.8
- Jacksonville
- Low: 28
- Record: 35
- Historical average low: 52.1
- St. Augustine
- Low: 35
- Record: 40
- Historical average low: 58.4
- Daytona Beach
- Low: 35
- Record: 35
- Historical average low: 58.7
- Orlando
- Low: 36
- Record: 39
- Historical average low: 58.9
- Melbourne
- Low: 38
- Record: 42
- Historical average low: 63
- Cocoa Beach
- Low: 42
- Record: 42
- Historical average low: 63
- West Palm Beach
- Low: 45
- Record: 42
- Historical average low: 66.7
- Fort Lauderdale
- Low: 49
- Record: 41
- Historical average low: 66.2
- Miami
- Low: 49
- Record: 43
- Historical average low: 67.3
- Naples
- Low: 45
- Record: 46
- Historical average low: 60.9
- Fort Myers
- Low: 42
- Record: 45
- Historical average low: 62.4
- Sarasota
- Low: 40
- Record: 41
- Historical average low: 60.9
- Gainesville
- Low: 32
- Record: 31
- Historical average low: 51.4
The USA TODAY-Florida Network contributed to this report.
Julius Whigham II is a criminal justice and public safety reporter for The Palm Beach Post. You can reach him at jwhigham@pbpost.com and follow him on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, at @JuliusWhigham. Help support our work: Subscribe today.
