Weather, Storms & Hurricane Blog

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Florida Freeze On The Way - Happy New Year 2008

Florida to ring in the first 48-72 hours of the New Year, with very cold weather, as a artic cold blast invades the Southeastern United States. December 2007 was a well above normal temperature wise in Florida for much of the end of the year, but now January 2008 is about to bring winter south, and with a cold bite for many up and down the Peninsula. This is looking like it might shape up to be some of the coldest weather for Florida in several years. Very cold temperatures will even be felt as far south as Key West, with a possible hard freeze for interior South and Central Florida. Freeze watches are up, and hard freeze advisories could be posted later today if model trends continue to show impressive low temperatures forecasts for many locations.

Possible Damaging Cold Weather Event For Florida

Florida vegetation is very sensitive to cold weather, especially Palm tree’s and other tropical plants and flowers. The Citrus belt of Florida will greatly be affected by the cold temperatures, especially if the temps drop below 32F for several hours, leading to a hard freeze. Farmers and growers of Sugarcane, Oranges, Grapefruit, and tropical plants, will be very busy the next few days trying to protect their crops from the very cold weather expected. I’ll be monitoring some of these locations over the next few days, and documenting this significant cold weather intrusion into the Sunshine State.

Freezing Ground Vegetation May Lead To Wildfires This Spring

Florida has been experiencing a severe drought the last 15 months or so, and November and December have been very dry, outside of a few small rain events. The grounds and vegetation is extremely dry, and any freezing weather will only add to the issues on the ground. Dead fields of brush and tree’s from freezing temperatures will make way for even more fuel for wildfires later this winter and early spring like in 2007. Another very active wildfire season is forecast for the Southeast and Florida due to drought. This latest cold snap could be the beginning for fire headlines in the coming months here in Florida, so not only is this a threat to Farmers now for agriculture interests, it’s also a threat to home owners and visitors later this spring when the wildfires return.

Yeah, I’m Back - It’s Time To Chase Any Weather Once Again

It’s a new year, and it’s time for me to get back to work after my lazy Holiday week away from computers, email, blog’s, message boards, forecast models, video editing, stock video, search engine optimization, domain sales, and web 2.0 advertising marketing for a new site. It’s time to get back to the weather, and I’m starting off with this artic blast and the headlines it will likely bring this week. Who knows, maybe with the strong northwest cold air advection off the Gulf, there might be some sprinkles that could go fluffy, but only if the conditions are just right. I’ve planned to be out and about day and night filming this first big cold weather event in 2008 for Florida. It feels good to begin a new year, with new chasing, and a chase season beginning to come into view for later this spring.

So much to come here in 2008, and today’s the first day of 365 to come. Happy New Year and best wishes to all of you in ‘08.

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