ANOTHER COLD WAVE ARRIVES
Pre-dawn mercury to slide into low 40s, with highs only in low 60s.
A biting cold front mightier than first forecast was expected to drive wind chill temperatures into the 30s this morning after slinking through South Florida overnight.
Areas of Palm Beach County west of Interstate 95 were put under a wind chill advisory Wednesday that was to be in effect through 10 a.m. today as the coldest temperatures descend just before dawn and warm only into the low 60s at the peak of the day.
Today’s forecast high temperature
is 62 degrees — 13 degrees below what’s normal for this time of year. The predicted low this morning is 43 degrees — 14 degrees colder than normal.
Chuck Caracozza, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Miami, said forecast models Wednesday showed slightly cooler temperatures than what was predicted earlier in the week, triggering the opening of an emergency
shelter in Belle Glade and freeze warnings for Hendry and Glades counties.
Belle Glade was forecast to have a morning temperature of 37 degrees.
“We’ve gotten spoiled into thinking winters aren’t as harsh as they should be, but this winter so far has proved us wrong,” said Dan Kottlowski, a senior meteo- rologist with AccuWeather. “You go through two to three years of warm winters and people get meteorological amnesia.”
This is the fourth signifi- cant cold front to hit South Florida since mid-December.
The system first whacked Gulf Coast states Tuesday where freeze warnings were still in effect from South- east Texas to Alabama on Wednesday. Much of Florida’s Panhandle woke up to frost Wednesday and remains under a hard freeze warning through 9 a.m. today.
Florida Climatologist David Zierden said while the frigid air may have damaged some South Florida crops, it can be a good thing for flower- ing fruit like strawberries, peaches and blueberries. Zierden said those fruits need a specific amount of “chill accumulation” hours, and have suffered the past few winters because of warm- er-than-normal temperatures.
“The other impact throughout the st ate of Florida because of several mild winters in a row is that whiteflies and the diseases they carry have become a big problem,” Zierden said. “This cold weather will help cut down on these pests and diseases.”
Friday morning still will be chilly, with temperatures in the 40s warming to 68 during the day. By Saturday and Sunday, the forecast calls for more normal South Florida winter weather, with daytime highs in the 70s.