Winter is making a strong comeback in northern Florida over the next few days, including the chance of snow or a wintry mix of rain and snow possible this weekend.
A series of cold front moving through will help usher in colder air into the northern part of the Sunshine State. In fact, the National Weather Service has issued Cold Weather Advisories for portions of the Panhandle and Frost Advisories for much of northern and central Florida.
Typically, frost can occur when the temperature falls below 36°F, especially in rural areas. It is a localized phenomena and can be quite variable across a small area. While the National Weather Service does not keep track of “frost” in observations per se, they do keep track of when temperatures hit the freezing mark or fall below. Frost becomes more widespread when the temperature falls below 32°F with some freeze possible. A hard freeze is possible when temperatures fall below 28°F. In a Freeze Warning, frost and freeze conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation. In a Frost Advisory, frost could kill sensitive outdoor vegetation if left uncovered. When a Watch is issued, it is possible warning criteria could be met and a warning could eventually be issued.
The National Weather Service wants people in the impacted areas to take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. “To prevent freezing and possible bursting of outdoor water pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in-ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above-ground pipes to protect them from freezing,” the National Weather Service said in a statement.
Tomorrow, the primary cold front will push through northern Florida during the early morning hours. Behind the front, cold and drier air push in as breezy northwesterly develop. Clearing skies and cooler air, will bring daytime highs in the mid 40s to lower 50s for locations north of the I-10 corridor and across southeastern Georgia, with lower to upper 50s across inland northeast Florida and coastal locations. High pressure will begin to build over the region Thursday evening, with winds beginning to taper off and becoming near calm sometime around midnight.
Temperatures are expected to crash to drop to sub-freezing, with inland lows in the lower to mid 20s and the lower 30s along the coast in northern Florida, prompting the cold weather advisories to be issued from the National Weather Service. With the near calm winds, frost development is likely to be widespread with patchy frost along the coastal locations.
On Friday, the cold high pressure system will be centered over northern Florida, with calm to light southwesterly winds expected through the day. The dry and cold conditions continue, but temperatures will be warmer than Thursday as daytime highs will be in the 50s area-wide.
On Saturday, high pressure will push off the coast allowing for the next cold front to enter the region. The cold front will cross northern Florida Saturday night; while isolated to widely scattered showers will develop around this front, as temperatures drop, the precipitation could mix with or change to plain snow.
While a dusting of snow is possible in interior northern Florida away from the coast, not much more than that is expected with this system. With ground temperatures rebounding on Friday and Saturday before the frontal passage, any snow that falls will likely quickly melt, unlike the storm system that brought snow from south Texas to north Florida last January.
