A strong cold front is expected to move through Florida, with growing confidence that the pulse of winter cold will reach all the way to the Keys.
Cold air from Canada is expected to reach the Panhandle on Sunday, January 11, with wind chill temperatures likely to plummet into the 20s early Monday morning, January 12, with daytime highs reaching only the 50s.
In the southern part of the state, low temperatures could drop into the 40s to 50s inland areas and into the 60s along the coast where the water is warm. Early in the week, daytime highs will hover around 70 degrees across much of South Florida.
While meteorologists don’t expect the same frigid temperatures in the new year (39 degrees in West Palm Beach on December 31), it will be a change from the recent record-defying high temperatures:
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On January 7, the temperature in Apalachicola reached 77 degrees, tying the record for the highest temperature set that day in 1974.
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The temperature in Miami reached 82 degrees, a full 6 degrees above normal but below the record of 87 degrees set that day in 2017.
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On January 7, the temperature in Fort Pierce on the Treasure Coast was 84 degrees. It’s 9 degrees above normal and close to the all-time high of 86 degrees set in 1990.
“Everyone’s talking about how warm it is and I’m excited about it. I love really warm weather,” said Lynn Murphy, who works the front desk at the Driftwood Inn in the Mexico Beach Panhandle. “The high temperature today (January 8) is supposed to be 73 degrees and I’m wearing long sleeves and hopefully a jacket.”
More: Fog blankets Florida: Warnings from Panhandle to Miami
The cold front is attached to a fast-moving area of low pressure that will move northeast with a mix of rain and snow, covering an area from Michigan to Maine.
Rain chances increase across the western Panhandle on Friday, January 9, with an 80% chance of showers in Pensacola on Saturday, January 10.
While temperatures in North Florida may reach into the high 30s, the chill will subside as we move down the peninsula.
“Crystal River, Cedar Island, Gainesville will likely be near the southern edge of temperatures below 40 degrees,” AccuWeather meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. “This is not purely arctic air mass, but a return of typical winter weather patterns.”
A high-pressure vortex dominates the Southeast, transporting tropical air to more northern latitudes, causing temperatures to rise. Weather gauges monitored by the Southeast Regional Climate Center show average temperatures this month from Pensacola to Leesburg, west of Daytona Beach, are 9 degrees above normal.
Map showing expected temperatures on the morning of January 12, 2025, when a cold front moves through Florida. Freezing temperatures are expected across the Panhandle, with lows in the 40s in South Florida.
East Coast cities from Miami to Vero Beach are still recovering from the New Year’s chill, with temperatures 1 to 2 degrees below normal since Jan. 1.
“It’s not going to be like the last time we saw it,” National Weather Service meteorologist George Rizzuto in Miami said, trying to temper expectations. “We’ll see a slight drop in humidity, a slight drop in temperature. The parent cyclone will be too far to the northeast.”
The coldest air will be short-lived. By midweek, a return to more normal winter weather is expected across much of Florida.
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. You can get all of Florida’s best content straight to your inbox every weekday by signing up for the free Florida TODAY newsletter at: https://palmbeachpost.com/newsletters.
This article originally appeared in The Palm Beach Post: Florida weather shift brings cooler winter air to Sunshine State