Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Multiple Freezes Possible This Weekend

Jeff Huffman
/
Florida Public Radio Emergency Network

The coldest air of the winter season is poised to plummet south into the state this weekend. A series of storm systems in the Northeast U.S. will cause the jet stream to buckle unusually far to the south, which will allow arctic air to move freely all the way to south Florida. This will begin Thursday night with the passage of a cold front. Temperatures Friday morning are likely to be near or below freezing all the way to the I-4 corridor over inland areas. A second and stronger cold front is expected to move in early Sunday, possibly sending temperatures to the freezing mark all the way into inland parts of south Florida by Monday morning. Gusty winds at times, especially the days after both fronts (Friday and Sunday), could produce wind chills (feels like temperatures) ranging from the teens in north Florida to the 20's and 30's in south Florida. Daytime highs will be unusually cold on those days as well, likely falling short of the 50-degree mark in north Florida, and struggling to reach 60 or 65 degrees for the rest of the peninsula. We will have updates on the exact numbers as the forecast situation becomes clearer closer to the weekend.

Jeff Huffman is Chief Meteorologist at the University of Florida in Gainesville. In addition to his full-time position at the university's radio and television stations, WUFT-FM/TV and WRUF-TV, the latter of which he co-founded, Huffman also provides weather coverage to public radio stations throughout Florida