South Florida Enjoys 9th Straight Winter Of Warm Temperatures

MIAMI, FL — While much of the country felt the sting of a polar vortex, Mother nature served up another mild winter to South Florida with temperatures in Miami, West Palm Beach and Naples among the top five warmest winters on record.

Weather officials said Wednesday that temperatures throughout South Florida came in above normal for the ninth straight meteorological winter.

"Sounds like a broken record, but South Florida had yet another warmer than normal winter," observed Robert Molleda of the National Weather Service in Miami. "We also had a wetter than normal winter."

While the last official day of the winter astronomical season ends on March 19, the meteorological winter ran from Dec. 1 to Feb. 29. This is because astronomical seasons are based on the position of Earth in relation to the sun and meteorological seasons are based on the annual temperature cycle, according to the National Weather Service.

"After a December and January with a fair number of cold frontal passages, subtropical
high pressure dominated in February and blocked most fronts from moving through
South Florida," weather experts said.

This brought a warm and humid air mass over South Florida for almost the entire month of February.

"Therefore, despite a near-normal January and a slightly warmer than normal December,
the 2018-2019 meteorological winter season ... ended up among the top 25 warmest on record," the National Weather Service said.

The average temperatures this winter tended to run 3 to 5 degrees above normal across most of South Florida, weather officials said.

"The lowest temperatures of the winter occurred after the passage of a strong cold front
that swept through South Florida on Tuesday, Jan. 20th," weather experts said. "Low temperatures on the morning of Jan. 22nd dropped into the 30s over most of South Florida, with lower 40s confined to the urban core and coastal areas of southeast and southwest Florida."

The lowest official temperature recorded by the National Weather Service was 33 degrees in Moore Haven and South Bay, Florida.

Several unofficial weather sites across interior southwest Florida recorded lows of 30 degrees, but that was only for one or two hours and resulted in a light freeze.

The temperature reached or exceeded 80 degrees between 40 to 60 days this winter. Naples recorded a high of 90 degrees on Feb. 18, the earliest date on record for a 90 degree day, according to the National Weather Service.