I had very high aspirations for this graph …
Note: By high I don’t necessarily mean “hot.”
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| South Florida has a long and hot summer, but it isn’t a story about just daytime air temperature. Of course there is the fabled humidity. On the graph above, the hot season is represent in yellow. Specifically, the duration of the hot season on the horizontal yellow bar at the top of the page spans the period of time, i.e. late March through November, when average daily daytime highs ascend 80 degrees. In comparison the humidity season doesn’t start until daily nighttime lows consistently ascend above 70 degrees. Not coincidentally, the humidity season matches the approximate duration of the wet season, shown in blue. The duration of the wet season typically runs from Memorial Day to Columbus Day each year, during which afternoon showers are the norm. Even after the afternoon showers shut down in fall, the hurricane season (as shown in red) continues to pose a threat. A surprisingly high percentage of Florida’s hurricanes make landfall in the month of October (20 percent), ranking it second to only September (30 percent). Synthesis: South Florida has a seemingly endless summer, thus making the first cold front in late October or November an incredible long wait and also a pleasant, if only temporary, relief. |
But in this case, actually I do:
It shows the onset and duration of various aspects of Florida’s ridiculously long summer. Technically, of course, spring has only just begun. But functionally, as shown on the graph above, the hot air, i.e. daytime highs over 80 degrees, are already here.
What’s up next?
Humidity is probably the form of Florida summer we loath the most. It won’t arrive until nighttime lows consistently ascend above 70 degrees.
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| This particular fire was actually a prescribed burn |
Until that happens expect a deep turn of the arrow towards dry:
Wildfire season has arrived in the swamp!
