Colorado Skies & Bright Autumn Skies & Leaves

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Yes, we do have real autumn weather in Florida. I know 13 of 17 days so far this month have been above normal but today nature finally gave us the weather many of us moved to Florida for! This is not a scene from Vermont. I actually snapped this picture in downtown Jacksonville. Believe it or not the deciduous trees that we do have usually peak right around the middle of December and this year the trees are right on cue! It is not by any means a New England scene but for Florida we are looking pretty terrific! It was a  beautiful day! We had what I call Colorado blue skies. Now of course we do not have mountains here but it was so crystal clear you could almost see forever like you would if you were on a summit. It was one of those days I felt I could run forever and I had to force myself to turn around on my run. I lost track at mile 10. Thank you nature! I was certainly running on sunshine.

It was perfect out today with highs in the lower to middle 60s but do not let that fool you. Tonight once the sun sets watch out! I expect patchy frost to be more widespread than last night especially west of highway 301 . Even the airport could get in on the frost along with Hilliard. Even though you see I am forecasting a low of 37, you really want to subtract five degrees to get the ground temperature. Temperatures are measured about six feet high and remember the earth cools from the ground up. This means it will be 32 on the ground which is cold enough for frost to form. I am expecting ideal radiational cooling with clear skies and a light wind as the high pressure bringing in this December chill settles in.

Tonight, I have issued a hot chocolate advisory which means you will need to bundle up in layers if you are checking out the many beautiful luminary displays or if your going out to look at holiday lights. Temperatures by 8 p.m. will only be in the middle to upper 40s. The hot chocolate advisory will continue into Monday morning before we go back to our familiar warm December pattern. This cold air does not have much staying power because most of the country lacks snow cover and the main jet stream continues to detour well to the north of Florida acting as a huge barrier to any cold that will try to hold.

I will be back here on the blog on Monday with your ten day outlook almost into New Years! Will Santa need his shorts, umbrellas, or maybe a lightning rod. It does look like a wild weather week which could even include record highs. Take care and I will be back soon!