Florida State Center Wiki: Wet And Dry Seasons In East Central Florida

Wet and Dry Seasons in East Central Florida

A Subtropical Wet-Dry Climate?

East central Florida experiences seasons that differ from most of the remainder of the country. Rather than the four seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall, east central Florida exhibits a distinct Wet (warm) Season and Dry (cooler) Season. This duality of seasons is similar to the Monsoon or Wet-Dry climates that other regions of the world experience. While the general onset of the Wet and Dry Seasons is known by most, a quantitative determination has not been previously accomplished for east central Florida.

Data showed that the median date for the onset of the Wet Season is May 24 in Orlando and May 27 in Daytona Beach, while the median date for the onset of the Dry Season is October 15 at both locations. The average Wet Season lasts about 5 months (146 days for Orlando and 143 days for Daytona Beach), and provides about 61% of the total annual rainfall for Orlando and 55% for Daytona Beach. The median date for the onset of the "Cooler" Season (first temperature below 60 degrees) is October 19 at Orlando and October 16 at Daytona Beach.

The Wet Season across southern sections may start (end) slightly earlier (later) due to the closer proximity of the warm Gulf Stream waters. This is supported by the findings of Biedinger and Lushine, which show that the average south Florida Rainy Season extends from May 21 to October 17.

The Wet Season in east central Florida is commonly referred to as the "Rainy Season." Though not as dramatic as the Monsoon circulations elsewhere in the world, the Florida peninsula has many of the same climate characteristics and certainly can be classified as "Monsoon-like" or "Monsoonally influenced" with a distinct wet-dry seasonal rhythm. The east central Florida climate does not have an appropriate classification in the Kppen scheme but fits close to the Subtropical Humid Wet-Dry (Cw) category.

Sources:

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/wetdry/WetDrySeason.html

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