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| It was an extremely warm and smoky New Years Eve. Notice the clouds of thick smoke hugging the giant oak tree in the middle of the image. A fire lights the tree, while fireworks explode overhead. Click on this or any image to enlarge. |
After an extremely warm and smoky New Years, Florida is bracing for an Arctic air mass that will override the state today and tomorrow.
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| The wind was blowing out of the north most of the weekend, pushing the smoke from this fire pit away from us. Regardless, the air is thick with a noxious smell of burnt creosote . . . as the forests begin to ignite. |
New Year's Eve was warm and smoky across East Central Florida. We had little rain in December and fires are beginning to rage early this year. It was an even warmer New Year's Day with temperatures in the low 80°s F (28° C). The warm weather is going to be gone tomorrow.
A strong cold front will sweep through East Central Florida Monday Morning. A surge of brisk northwest winds will be followed by a secondary surge of cold air Tuesday morning. This will be the coldest air this winter season. By Tuesday morning we are expecting low temperatures in the high 20°s F (-2° C).
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| We're building frames to hold covers to protect the palm tree seen in the foreground of this shot. The tree is bigger than it might appear. Its about 8' tall and at least as wide. While the cold won't kill the tree it will leave it burnt and brown until mid-summer if we don't cover it and its sister located on the other side of the yard. The larger Queen Palms (with Christmas lights) will not burn or freeze until temperatures reach the low 20°s F (-5° C). |
In addition to the coming cold and low wind chill temperatures the air mass behind the cold front will be very dry. The combination of strong, gusty winds and low relative humidities will increase the fire danger across the region this week.
This weather is beginning to become more normal for Florida as the climate changes. It is one of the paradoxes of a warming world. . . the mid-latitudes are becoming periodically colder and much drier. This our third-in-a-row dry winter due in large part to persistent La Niña conditions in the equatorial Pacific Ocean.
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| The warm crescent Moon on New Year's Eve in a 30 second exposure made to make the moon look fuller than it actually was. |
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