Florida State Center Wiki: The Florida Dry Season

The Florida Dry Season

The Dry Season usually begins in October as the first synoptic scale cold front brings drier and slightly cooler air into the area. This first front sometimes results in a significant rain event. Tropical systems, additional fronts and gale centers can bring periods of heavy rain through November, but the frequency of rain almost always decreases after the first significant frontal passage.

Fronts continue to push through the area during the traditional "meteorological winter" months of December, January and February. Cold frontal passages during this time period will sometimes be preceded by a line of showers and thunderstorms, but the occurrence of rainfall is much less frequent than the summer. The greatest coverage of rainfall during the winter months often occurs when one of these fronts moves back northward as a warm front. Some winters have more frequent frontal passages, which can result in much above normal rainfall. The most recent occurrence was the 1997-1998 winter when a strong El Nio resulted in significant severe weather episodes and flooding across the Florida peninsula.

For east central Florida, late February through March might be the time period that most closely resembles typical Spring weather in the higher latitudes. Large swings in temperatures often occur along with occasional severe weather episodes, but rainfall is usually infrequent. April is often the driest month of the year as fronts become weaker and yield less rainfall, yet manage to pass through the area and reinforce the dry and stable air mass. Temperatures warm through May with average maximum readings reaching the upper 80s by the end of the month. Rainfall frequency increases compared to April, with the most notable increase usually beginning late in the month.

The onset of the Dry Season is not always associated with the first fall in dew points/minimum temperatures below 70 degrees. In fact, average temperatures start to fall below 70 degrees in early October. A better measure of the onset of the Dry Season correlates to when a front drops temperatures below 60 degrees for the first time.

Exact dates for the onset of the Dry Season are difficult to determine in some years. Average minimum temperatures remain in the 70s throughout the wet (warm) season, and start to slip into the upper 60s during early October. There are classic years where a front lowers dew points and minimum temperatures below 60 degrees during the first or second week of October and rainfall frequency sharply diminishes.

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