The spring heat will quickly turn to cold as a cold front moves through Florida over the next few days, heralding the change of season.
On Friday, February 20, temperatures will hit record highs in parts of the Sunshine State, reaching 15 degrees above normal, with temperatures expected to drop into the 30s and 40s in the Panhandle on Monday morning. Residents in the southern part of the state woke up to temperatures in the 50s in Miami and 40s in Naples on Tuesday.
Early this week, daytime highs are expected to reach only the 60s in South Florida and the 50s in North Florida.
“Enjoy the warmth while you can as winter will greet us again Sunday and Monday following the passage of a strong cold front,” wrote meteorologists with the National Weather Service’s mobile office, which provides weather forecasts for Pensacola.
AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said high pressure over Florida is blowing warm air from the tropics ahead of a cross-country winter storm, causing temperatures to soar later this week and into the weekend.
The high temperature at Jacksonville International Airport on Friday could reach 86 degrees, a full 16 degrees above normal for this time of year.
But an area of low pressure moving from the Rockies into the Great Plains will then turn northeast and drag the cold front behind it. There’s also the potential for a cold front near the mid-Atlantic to create a counterclockwise low-pressure vortex, which could add energy to the flow across Florida.
How much will temperatures drop in Florida due to a cold front?
High temperatures in Jacksonville may only reach the upper 50s on Tuesday, about 30 degrees cooler than a few days ago.
Buckingham warned that secondary areas of low pressure could slow or speed up the front.
“Fortunately, this time, the weather won’t be as extreme as what we’ve seen before this winter because our sun angle is getting higher and the Canadian air isn’t as cold,” he said.
Meteorological spring begins on March 1, while astronomical spring does not begin until the sun crosses the equator on the vernal equinox on March 20.
Between February 1 and 3, temperatures in deep South Florida ranged from freezing to near freezing, killing countless invasive iguanas. Iguanas will become cold-stunned when temperatures drop from 40 degrees to around 50 degrees, but if they freeze or remain cold for too long, iguanas will die.
During a special two-day program, approximately 5,200 cold-stunned iguanas were turned over to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, where they were collected and euthanized or given to licensed handlers for sale out of state.
“We believe there are tens of thousands of iguanas that didn’t make it to the other side of the storm,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a Presidents Day unveiling of a statue of President James Monroe. “That would be an obviously significant setback for their people.”
Tim Sedlock, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Melbourne, said strong cold fronts are not unusual in February, but they will begin to weaken before reaching Central Florida in late March into April.
“It’s still possible to get fronts, but they won’t be as impactful as they were earlier in the season as the jet stream moves north,” Sedlock said.
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The Southeast Regional Climate Center’s forecast map for Friday, February 20, shows daily high temperatures deviating from normal.
Still, his office expects wind chill temperatures in the upper 20s to lower 30s across inland central Florida.
“These won’t be record lows, but they’re still well below normal,” Sedlock said.
Will cold fronts affect potential fires due to drought in Florida?
Concerns about wildfires are also heightened as dry northwest winds bring colder temperatures, Buckingham noted.
Thirty-five Florida counties from Collier to Alachua are under burn bans, and 99% of the state is in some degree of drought, with 43% in extreme drought. A new drought report will be released on February 19.
The Kitchen-Byram Drought Index used by the Florida Forest Service shows areas around and south of Lake Okeechobee are the driest in the state.
The index measures drought on a scale of 0 to 800, with 800 being desert-like and 0 being saturated ground. Generally, any value over 600 is associated with drought conditions.
In a report Tuesday, Feb. 17, all areas across the state from Manatee County to St. Lucie County and south to the Keys were considered to be over 600.
“We will be monitoring the wildfire risk closely,” Buckingham said. “So far, this cold front doesn’t look like a big rainmaker.”
Kimberly Miller is a Florida reporter for the USA TODAY Network. She covers weather, environment and biology as a reporter for Embrace Florida. If you have a news tip, send it to kmiller@pbpost.com. Get all of Florida’s best content straight to your inbox every weekday by signing up for the free Florida Today newsletter at: palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
As the temperature dropped to near freezing in Palm Beach, Florida, in February 2026, Mia Cruz poked her head out of her clothes to watch the sunrise.
This article originally appeared in The Palm Beach Post: Cold front will drop temperatures by 30 degrees in parts of Florida
