[Corrie22]

If "normal" is what happens most of the time.....

Then warm is normal for Florida....

..and it's the cold that's not normal

Citrus growers can grow citrus trees up to very old and huge, that takes years with no extreme cold...and then lose them in one freeze

...what is normal....is the up and down cycle....years with no extreme cold....and then years with extreme cold
=========

The AMO (Atlantic Multi-decadal Oscillation) controls the climate in Florida....When the AMO is positive...it's warmer....when the AMO is negative....it's colder
...the AMO has been in a positive state for the past ~25 years...warmer......it's starting to flip again to negative....the negative state of the AMO will flip Florida's temperatures back to the pattern it had in the 70's and 80's......colder

AMO > https://climatedataguide.ucar.edu/si...?itok=UAWvZTuk

NOAA AMO > https://stateoftheocean.osmc.noaa.go...rie_figure.png

NOAA AMO >...."'What phase are we in right now?
Since the mid-1990s we have been in a warm phase."'

[LKJ1988]

Another wrong link. There will be no more cold like we saw back in the 80's for another 3400 years.

[Dave_n_Tenn]

38*F, was at the Naval station.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by Dave_n_Tenn

38*F, was at the Naval station.

Correct.

Key west might also have a tad of heat island effect which is why it was a couple degrees warmer.

Note how Dry Tortugas is way out in the Gulf, BUT in the summer it's average low temp at night is 2 degrees cooler than Key West. You'd think being further out in the Gulf it would be warmer.

[blueherons]

Fort Lauderdale and Miami are way further south than Sarasota, Tampa, and St. Pete.

[kemahkami]

Originally Posted by LKJ1988

All wrong here again. You can thank the gulf stream jean. Plus warmer water temps on the east coast help keep it warmer.

Yes, the FL east coast has deeper waters, which won't cool down as much compared to the shallower waters of the Gulf.

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by ScrappyJoe

Yes, the FL east coast has deeper waters, which won't cool down as much compared to the shallower waters of the Gulf.

Correct. BUT in the summer the Gulf waters off SWFL are warmer than the east coast where the afternoon highs are a bit cooler over there.
Here in SWFL I live in Charlotte County and the nearest reporting buoy is Venice beach. Last summer the waters were hitting 92 degrees quite often and sometimes 93 degrees! Same way with in Naples.

Reporting stations in the Keys area were hitting 93-94 a lot last summer in the shallow waters.

Just like the Caribbean Sea for example the surface temps even in late Aug are only about 85 to 86 degrees. However the heat content (79 degrees) extends for hundreds of feet down so hurricanes can feed off that.

You won't see 93 degree temps off Miami. Usually they hover in the upper 80s.

But in the winter it's the opposite. The waters over there due to being deeper and the Gulf stream are warmer than the Gulf side. That's why their lows in the winter at night are warmer.

As I explained before on the Atlantic side it's all about the Gulf stream.

That's why around Daytona beach it's cooler and their water temps even in late summer the average temp is only 81 degrees. The Gulf stream in that area runs further off shore and has less of an influence compared to Miami which where the Gulf stream is closer to shore.

This is why Cape Hatteras for example in the winter at the coldest time the average low is only 39 degrees because the Gulf stream near shore. Just 10 miles offshore at Cape Hatteras the buoy was reporting 73 water temps today which is below average. I've seen it in the winter in the upper 70s.

[LKJ1988]

Water temps in the gulf will just keep heating up over the years as the planet just keeps heating up more and more. Expect 95f and more for the gulf out past 40 years.

[Dave_n_Tenn]

Sea temperatures can be checked daily at buoy's. Please show me where the sea temps off NC is in the +70* range in January.

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/view_climp...=hcgn7&meas=st

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/realtime2/HCGN7.txt

[MOforthewin]

Originally Posted by Dave_n_Tenn

Sea temperatures can be checked daily at buoy's. Please show me where the sea temps off NC is in the +70* range in January.

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/view_climp...=hcgn7&meas=st

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/realtime2/HCGN7.txt

69.6 currently. yesterday it was up to almost 73. Front is coming thru though.

https://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_pa...?station=41025

Again this buoy is just about 10 miles off shore. At the beach water will be cooler right now. Currently waters on the western edge of the Gulf stream near NC are below normal. Blue is below normal.

https://www.tropicaltidbits.com/anal...a_global_1.png