Area heat records tied or toppled

High pressure, lack of rain keep overnight temperatures elevated.

East winds carrying warm, ocean-kissed air are flowing into South Florida this week in a pattern that caused heat records to fall or be tied from Miami to West Palm Beach over the weekend.

A high pressure system northeast of the state coupled with a lack of widespread afternoon showers means abnormally warm days aren’t cooling off much even after the sun goes down.

The overnight low dipped to just 80 degrees Sunday morning at Palm Beach International Airport, tying the record warm minimum temperature set for Oct. 8 in 1990. Monday morning, preliminary observations also showed a morning low temperature of 80 degrees. If that holds, that would tie a record that was set in 2009.

In Fort Lauderdale, the daytime high temperature reached 91 degrees on Sunday, tying a 1989 record. In addition, the overnight low dropped only to 82 degrees Sunday morning, tying the record warm overnight minimum set in 2007.

Also, in Miami, the overnight low dipped to just 81 Sunday, breaking the 80-degree record set in 2016.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we continue to come close to some record warm minimum temperatures this week,” said Chris Fisher, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. “We still have this pretty good east wind and unless we get some rain there’s not much to pull the temperatures down.”

Daytime temperatures in West Palm Beach are forecast to be in the high 80s most of the week, slightly above the 86-degree normal for this time of year.

The normal overnight low is 73

degrees, but the forecast calls for mornings to dip only into the high 70s through Thursday.

Fisher said while this week is drier than last week when a tropical wave moved through the area, dew points are still in the high 70s meaning sticky humidity and “feels like” temperatures that may close in on 100 degrees.

“This weekend will bring more moisture with another wave coming through,” Fisher said. “But it’s not anything significant. It just ups our chances for rain to 40 percent.”

On Monday, Tropical Storm Ophelia formed in the far-off Atlantic. The system, which was 860 miles west-southwest of the Azores Monday afternoon, is no threat to land, but is notable as the 15th named storm this hurricane season.

An average season has just 12 named storms. Ophelia is forecast to become a weak hurricane later this week.