Yesterday’s strong cold front is beginning to usher in cold air from Canada. Temperatures have fallen into the upper 30s in the Florida Big Bend from perry down to Levy County where the winds have died off considerably. High pressure is moving into the tri-state area, which for tonight is a good thing for the farmers.  Because of the pressure gradient between the strong low pressure system up north and the high pressure area, winds over northern AL and GA will continue to crank out much of the night. This will keep temperatures 3-8 degrees higher than they otherwise would have in the western Florida panhandle, SW GA, and in Alabama. Temperatures at this hour in those locations remain in the mid 40s to low 50s.  The winds should prevent a freeze in those locations. This is a case where there will be a north-south temperature flop. Places down south (especially in the Big Bend and in interior NE Florida and south central Georgia) that are away from the high pressure area will be cooler than those up north. For that reason, freeze warnings were not issued west or north of Tallahassee.  Winds are expected to increase as sunrise approaches in all areas, which will supply an early morning temperature boost.

Impacts: 

• Light frost
• Light Freeze (2-4 hours between 29-32 degrees in most locations, a few locations may dip to 27-29 degrees briefly).
• Wind chills near freezing in SW GA, Alabama, and the western FL Panhandle

Friday Night: An arctic cold front will pass through the area, which will reinforce the cold air and shunt the high pressure area out of the southeast. This will allow a near perfect radiational cooling situation. Temperatures could dip to near hard freeze levels in Georgia and Alabama. A freeze watch has been issued for the tri-state area, and this will be upgraded to a warning, and possibly a hard freeze warning for tomorrow night. You will not need the vegetable sheets tonight, but you will want to bring them out for tomorrow night. Temperatures will likely drop into the 20s in all locations in north Florida, Alabama, and Georgia with the exception of the major cities and the coastline.

Extra BIG News: This blog has now seen 10,000 hits. The milestone took 21 months and 2 hurricane seasons. I hope you all enjoy this journey as much as I do. If you all have any critiques for me, please send them to me! I’ll do my best to incorporate each idea. This is for you all after all.

In the future I hope to see these things to come: Part two of my storm chasing experience (likely tomorrow unless a hard freeze warning is issued for a widespread area), pictures with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters, Hurricane Season 2013 preview, live blogs(?), and who knows what else! For those of you that do not know, I will be interning this summer with the NOAA Hurricane Hunters in Tampa, FL, and there is the possibility of flying into a hurricane or two. Hopefully in the next year, we can double our viewership.

Let’s see what February brings, but whatever it brings, I’m looking forward to it!

See you soon!