On Wednesday morning, Fort Lauderdale saw a temperature of 46 while Miami saw one of 47, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. The region hasn’t been that cold since New Year’s Eve in 2000 when temperatures clocked in at 40 in Fort Lauderdale and 42 in Miami.

This week’s cold front is shaping up to be even chillier than originally predicted, with high temperatures in some areas falling short of forecast highs on Wednesday, according to the National Weather Service in Miami. Instead of highs in the upper-60s, some areas won’t budge past the low- to mid-60s.

Despite plenty of sunshine Wednesday, “high temps will struggle to reach the lower 60s around (Lake Okeechobee) and mid/upper 60s over the rest of South Florida,” the weather service wrote.

The cold temperatures will spill into New Year’s Day, with frost likely to appear into Thursday morning as low temperatures remain in the 40s with high temperatures in the 60s.

Frost advisories are most likely to be issued for areas around Lake Okeechobee but could extend as far east as inland Palm Beach County where the frost coverage is widespread, said National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Molleda.

And even in areas where frost advisories likely won’t be issued, “a good possibility” of frost patches could be seen as far south as inland Miami-Dade County, according to the weather service.

A frost advisory hasn’t been issued for Palm Beach, Broward or Miami-Dade counties since January 2023, Molleda said.

“Patchy frost” is most likely to appear on cars or rooftops, Molleda said.

And though South Florida isn’t quite seeing freezing temperatures, the cold is making an impact as frozen iguanas may be spotted falling from trees.

“When temperatures drop to near freezing or below, nonnative green iguanas and other nonnative reptiles can go into a state of torpor, where they temporarily lose all muscle control. This can sometimes cause green iguanas to fall out of trees or other vegetation,” The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has written.

Molleda said a “very gradual warming trend” will begin in the next couple of days with Sunday seeing near normal temperatures for the beginning of January in South Florida.

A strong cold front is forecast to drop temperatures into the 40s on Tuesday night and Wednesday night. The cold front is “originating from up in the Arctic, and it’s just very powerful and working its way down south,” said Will Redman, a meteorologist  with the National Weather Service in Miami.

Daytime temperatures aren’t likely to go past the 70s. “Maximum temperatures during the day will run a good 5-10 degrees lower than temperatures over the past week as the front drops through,” the weather service said.

The plunge in low temps overnight could bring an “excessive cold risk,” the weather service warned. “Just be prepared to bundle up,” Redman said.

After a relatively warm Christmas, the final day of 2025 (New Year's Eve) will have a relatively cold start for South Florida standards. Even colder temperatures are currently forecast for daybreak on New Year's Day.

Pictured: Excessive Cold Risk & Minimum Apparent Temperatures. pic.twitter.com/hC2eKtvg5X

— NWS Miami (@NWSMiami) December 28, 2025

Some other parts of Florida could reach the 20s and 30s. “Persistent northerly winds Tuesday night could result in even cooler apparent temperatures overnight, ranging between the upper 20s and lower 30s across portions of the interior, including areas in Glades and Hendry,” the weather service said.

A gradual warming will begin Thursday, with high temperatures rising back to the mid- and upper-70s by the weekend.

California officials and weather forecasters urged holiday travelers to avoid the roads on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day ahead of a series of powerful winter storms that threatened to slam the state with relentless rains, heavy winds and mountain snow through Friday.

Millions of people are expected to travel across the state. They will likely meet hazardous, if not impossible, traveling conditions as several atmospheric rivers were forecast to make their way through the state, the National Weather Service warned.

“If you’re planning to be on the roads for the Christmas holidays, please reconsider your plans,” said Ariel Cohen, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Los Angeles.

Forecasters said Southern California could see its wettest Christmas in years and warned about flash flooding, mudslides and debris flows in areas burned by last January’s wildfires. Los Angeles County officials said Tuesday they were knocking on the doors of some 380 particularly vulnerable households to order them to leave.

Most areas saw scattered showers Tuesday morning, and the system was expected to pick up in the evening and intensify into Christmas Eve. Some regions will see rain and winds taper off Wednesday before another storm moves in.

Much of the Sacramento Valley and the San Francisco Bay Area were under a flood watch and a high wind warning through Friday. Forecasters warned of heavy snow and gusts for parts of the Sierra Nevada starting Tuesday that will create “near white-out conditions” and make it “nearly impossible” to travel through the mountain passes.

There’s also a risk of severe thunderstorms and a small chance of tornadoes along the northern coast.

Heavy rain and flash flooding that started Saturday in Northern California already led to water rescues and at least one death, local officials said. Shasta County Sheriff Michael L. Johnson on Monday declared a state of emergency to prepare for more rain and allow the state to help with hazard mitigation and search and rescue operations.

Southern California typically gets half an inch to 1 inch of rain this time of year, but this week many areas could see between 4 and 8 inches , National Weather Service meteorologist Mike Wofford said. It could be even more in the mountains. Gusts could reach 60 to 80 mph in parts of the central coast.

Potential widespread flooding, rockslides and mudslides are highly likely, especially in areas burned by last January’s deadly Palisades fire, he added. Officials expect multiple road closures and airport delays during the storms. Downed trees and powerlines are also possible. Parts of Los Angeles were under evacuation warnings starting Tuesday.

The county had put up K-rails, a type of barrier, around the burn scar to help catch sliding debris during rainstorms. Residents could also pick up free sandbags to protect their homes, said Kathryn Barger, a Los Angeles County supervisor representing Altadena.

“When experts are projecting this type of rain in this short period of time, it’s serious,” Barger said.

Many people in burn scar areas decided not to leave after receiving the evacuation notification, Los Angeles Police Department Chief Jim McDonnell said Tuesday. He urged them to reconsider.

“The threat posed by this storm is real and imminent,” he said.

Local and state officials are gearing up to respond to emergencies through the week. The state has deployed resources and first responders to a number of counties along the coast and in Southern California ahead of the storms. The California National Guard is also on standby to assist.

An atmospheric river is a long, narrow band of water vapor that forms over an ocean and flows through the sky, transporting moisture from the tropics to northern latitudes.

Earlier this month, stubborn atmospheric rivers drenched Washington state with nearly 5 trillion gallons of rain in a week, threatening record flood levels, meteorologists said. That rainfall was supercharged by warm weather and air, plus unusual weather conditions tracing back as far as a tropical cyclone in Indonesia.

Associated Press writers Sophie Austin in Sacramento, California, and Jessica Hill in Las Vegas contributed to this report.

The southern U.S. and Florida will be coming off a Christmas hot spell and descending into brisk weather.

“Gonna be quite the shock to the system, with 20s into North FL, 30s Central FL, and this one may actually reach far South FL with 40s! These are real temps. Wind chills will be lower,” wrote WFLA-TV chief meteorologist Jeff Berardelli on X.

A 180!
After a record hot Christmas across the Middle & parts of the South, a New Year’s Arctic Blast promises a Deep South Freeze by New Year’s Eve. Gonna be quite the shock to the system, with 20s into North FL, 30s Central FL, and this one may actually reach far South FL with… pic.twitter.com/kRXDk0YXyO

— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) December 23, 2025

“Looks like there’s a cooldown coming to South Florida right before the new year,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Dan Pydynowski. “We’ll be on the tail end of a cold front coming southward across the FL peninsula.”

AccuWeather and Weather.com are predicting the cooldown to start on Tuesday, Dec. 30, with daytime highs at around 67 and overnight lows dipping to 52 in suburban Palm Beach County.

Apple Weather is calling for lower temperatures, suggesting overnight lows for Tuesday and New Year’s Eve to be as chilly as 43 to 45 in suburban Palm Beach County, 47 in Fort Lauderdale and 50 in Miami.

South Florida will still remain relatively protected from the cold air. For comparison, Gainesville could be as cold as 27 on the night of Tuesday, Dec. 30.

The cooldown will be caused by a dip in the jet stream. “We’re pretty far out, but a dip in the jet stream centered over the Midwest and Northeast means the core of the coldest air will be there,” Pydynowski said.

The chill will be tempered by the angle of the blast. This won’t be a straight north-to-south shot of cold air, said Pydynowski. “This will be more of a glancing blow … from the edge of a dip in the jet stream.”

The cooldown should only last two days, he said.

South Florida weather looks stable throughout this week, with clear or mostly sunny skies, daytime temperatures in the high 70s and evening temperatures in the high 60s.

“It will be windy through Tuesday,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Chuck Caracozza. “After that it’ll be dry through the rest of the week — not too much in the way of travel concerns.”

Christmas Day will be mostly sunny, with a high near 79, with northeast wind up to 10 mph. The days following Christmas should remain mostly sunny through the weekend, with pleasant temperatures in the mid to high 60s at night and in the high 70s in the daytime.

The Northeast, a common travel destination for people leaving South Florida, will be more tempestuous.

Tuesday will bring snow across New York State, Pennsylvania and southern New England, with about 3 inches expected north of New York City and an inch or so to the south.

Things will clear up for Christmas Eve, with sunny skies and a high of 44. Temperatures will drop to 31 overnight and Christmas morning will be mostly cloudy, but with a fairly low chance of rain.

The period between Christmas and New Year’s should remain cool in the Northeast, and AccuWeather meteorologists say that a series of quick-hitting storms — some packing snow and ice — will traverse the region between Christmas and New Year’s.

The National Weather Service is calling for snow in the New York area from Friday through Saturday, then shifting to rain on Sunday. Forecasters said Friday afternoon and Friday evening would see the greatest likelihood of accumulation.

The middle of the U.S. will be drastically different. An undulation in the jet stream will bring a bubble of warmth to the south-central part of the U.S. this week, stretching from Colorado and Texas to parts of the Appalachians and north to parts of the Midwest.

Temperatures should be 15 to 30 degrees above the historical average by Christmas Day. “At this level, the warmth will be comparable to late April or early May,” said AccuWeather meteorologist Alyssa Glenny.

Oklahoma City could see highs in the upper 70s, said Glenny. The warmth will shift to the east coast as the week progresses.

Though that sounds like good news for travel, AccuWeather warns that “low clouds and fog from the Gulf Coast to the Appalachians and Atlantic Coast due to the warmth could reduce visibility, disrupt road travel and cause flight delays.”

A busy week for a busy region

Regardless of the weather, this year’s holiday season will be busy. AAA has projected 8.03 million domestic air travelers, the first time on record that the number will exceed 8 million. That’s a 2.3% increase compared to last year.

Orlando, Fort Lauderdale and Miami are the top domestic destinations for holiday travel this year, said AAA.

Arlene Satchell, spokesperson for Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport and North Perry Airport, advised that travelers “stay in close contact with the airlines to see if the flights are delayed and to avoid coming out to the airport to be stranded, to sit and wait.”

The South Florida Sun Sentinel tried to contact spokespeople for Miami International Airport and Palm Beach International Airport, but hadn’t received a response Monday afternoon.

Satchell said that Fort Lauderdale International’s busiest 17 days of the year kicked off on Saturday, Dec. 20, and will run through Jan. 5. “We expect 2.1 million people to pass through,” she said.

“We were blessed this last year with no hurricanes hitting Florida directly. But the downside of not having enough rain, obviously, is drought,” Simpson said during an appearance at the Florida Forest Service Valrico Forestry Station in Dover.

Despite some recent rainfall, Florida remains in drought conditions months out from April, May, and June peak for wildfires.

“The goal is to be able to not have a California, Colorado, Canada type of event,” Simpson said. “Our goal is to preserve life and to keep our citizens safe and preserve property, and in that order.”

While the state is vulnerable to wildfires year-round, Florida Forest Service Director Rick Dolan called current conditions “the driest winter” in recent memory.

“We had a nice little shot of rain a couple of weeks ago, had a little bit in the Panhandle yesterday, but there’s no rain in the 10-day forecast now,” Dolan said. “What does that mean for us here in Florida? That we’re going to have wildfires. We had a 40-acre wildfire in north Polk County yesterday, and they just had three to five inches of rain just over a week ago.”

More than 232,000 acres of state and federal lands in Florida have been consumed by nearly 3,500 wildfires this year, according to Simpson’s office. In 2024, 2,439 wildfires burned more than 52,161 acres across the state.

As part of a recommended $117.36 billion budget introduced recently, Gov. Ron DeSantis proposed $4 million to replant trees and timber impacted by hurricanes and natural disasters, which would maintain the current level of funding.

DeSantis’ proposal also includes $64 million for emergency wildfire management.

The budget for 2024-2025 fiscal year, which ends June 30, included $45 million to combat wildfires. The funds included money for equipment and wildfire suppression activities, such as prescribed burning.

The National Weather Service on Wednesday issued its annual dry season outlook. Though the La Niña is considered a relatively weak one, it will still exert an influence on South Florida weather.

A general warming trend over the last decade should be enhanced by La Niña, which usually results in warmer winters.

The drought conditions that persisted through the bulk of 2025 are back for most of South Florida, with the exception of coastal areas.

November was particularly dry, with 2 to 4 fewer inches of rain than normal in several areas of Palm Beach, Broward and Miami-Dade counties.

“During a typical La Niña winter, the jet stream tends to be a bit farther to the north,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Robert Molleda.

That causes winter storms that travel from west to east across the continent to track well north of Florida, he said.

“That means that the cold fronts that move into the southeastern U.S. and Florida during the winter tend to have less moisture associated with them.”

Molleda said that drier-than-normal conditions are likely through the winter, with less storminess in the form of severe thunderstorms or tornadoes.

That does not mean we won’t get cold snaps. “The jet stream can still fluctuate. There are going to be times when it’s going to dip to the south,” he said. That jet stream airflow will bring cold air, and often storms with it.

La Niña combined with warming trends means a warmer winter.

“The last 10 winters have been well above normal temperatures, for the most part, across much of the Florida peninsula,” said Molleda. “La Niña, based on past events, combined with trends, leads us toward warmer-than-normal winters, and a really dry season overall.”

2010-11 was the last cooler-than-normal winter.

And though La Niña generally makes for a less stormy winter with fewer intense thunderstorms and tornadoes, there can still be exceptions.

In 2023, a La Niña spring, Fort Lauderdale was slammed by record-breaking rains, where 26 inches of rain fell in less than 24 hours, causing severe flooding.

La Niña, with its larger long-term influence, “sets the stage” for individual weather events, said Molleda, but does not cause them directly.

2025 was a year of drought in South Florida, and it looks like that pattern will continue.

“We’re already in drought conditions. It’s more than likely that the drought conditions will persist or even worsen,” said Molleda. That could lead to wildfire threats increasing by as early as January.

Though Tuesday could see scattered showers throughout the region, especially in Palm Beach County and northern Broward County, forecasters are calling for mostly sunny skies during the day and partly cloudy evenings through the weekend.

Daytime temperatures will remain in the low to mid 80s while overnight lows will dip to the upper 60s and low 70s.

“We’re still going to have periods of shower activity,” including Tuesday, said National Weather Service meteorologist Sammy Hadi. “Then there should be a period of drier weather on Wednesday into Thursday and Friday. But by Saturday and Sunday we could have a few showers along the coast.”

A mild front passing through will make Wednesday the coolest night of the week, with temperatures on the coast dropping to 66.

“There will be a period of Wednesday where the winds will be from the northwest, which should feel quite nice, as it ushers in drier air,” Hadi said.

As the week progresses, winds will calm and shift. By Friday, winds will be from the southeast and south, making inland areas warmer, Hadi said.

The southerly wind will also bring a slight chance of rain along the coast. As a result of the south wind, temperatures over the weekend will be several degrees above normal.

The National Weather Service is predicting calm and pleasant conditions leading up to the holiday.

“Overall, very dry and calm weather remains ongoing at least into early next week,” the weather service said. Temperatures should reach the low to mid 80s each day and from the mid to high 60s each night.

Weather service temperature maps show above-normal temperatures for most of the Southeast through Black Friday.

The second half of Thanksgiving week and beyond is much more up in the air, experts said.

“We’re looking at the potential for a weakening frontal boundary that could be coming across the area during that time, around Thursday,” said Chuck Caracozza, a weather service meteorologist. “Whether it stalls out or passes through is highly uncertain.”

That could mean a slight increase in moisture, said Caracozza, but it was too soon to tell.

Much of it depends on how much moisture exists ahead of the front. “There’s not much agreement to models,” he said.

Other forecasters are talking about a post-Thanksgiving arctic blast, but various forecast models disagree dramatically about how it could affect Florida.

The “Euro” model, produced by European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, indicates the cold front will reach well into South Florida, and is showing temperatures in the mid 40s in South Florida and the mid 30s in Central Florida.

The GFS model, produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, is showing temperatures in the mid 70s in South Florida and high 60s in Central Florida.

It’s “the kind of forecast that makes a weather guy pull his hair out!” wrote WFLA-TV chief meteorologist and climate specialist Jeff Berardelli on X. “It’s a very uncertain forecast and it’s still ~9 days out.”

The kind of forecast that makes a weather guy pull his hair out!
And I don’t have any to spare
But seriously, you’re going to see lots of posts about brutal cold air coming. However it’s a very uncertain forecast and it’s still ~9 days out.
Now there will be cold air in the… pic.twitter.com/UWi3HlIi9L

— Jeff Berardelli (@WeatherProf) November 20, 2025

Berardelli said there will be cold air in the eastern U.S. at the time, but it’s very unclear how far south it will travel.

He said that the Euro model did well in predicting the last arctic blast, but that the pattern is different for this one. He sees it as a short-lived, “shallow” cold outbreak.

“More substantial, longer-lived cold is possible in December,” he said.

National travel impacts

If you’re traveling next week, a significant storm moving across the central and eastern U.S. next week could pose travel problems, said AccuWeather long-range expert Paul Pastelok.

“Storms, snow, gusty winds, and fog would cause flight delays and cancellations during some of the busiest travel days of the year,” Pastelok said. “Drivers could encounter rain and fog as storms push from the central U.S. to the Northeast before Thanksgiving Day.”

As for the system affecting the floats in the Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York City, Pastelok said, “At this time, we believe strong winds behind the front will hold off in New York City until the afternoon or evening, and should be relatively light for the large balloons during Thanksgiving morning. However, if the front is faster, winds may kick up sooner.”

It might seem like a fortunate flop — only five hurricanes, when most forecasts back in spring called for eight or nine.

It was actually “pretty hopping,” said University of Miami meteorologist Brian McNoldy. It was also “weird” said Colorado State hurricane expert Phil Klotzbach.

“Overall it’s a strange season to categorize,” said Klotzbach. We had fewer than average hurricanes, about 70% of normal, but far more days with major hurricanes, about 150% above average, he said.

Though the season only produced five hurricanes, four of them were major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher, and three were Category 5 storms — highly unusual. The only other time that has happened in recorded history was in 2005 with Hurricanes Emily, Katrina, Rita and Wilma.

It was the first year since 2015 without a hurricane hitting the U.S., and the first time since 2010 with an “above normal” season with no landfalls.

There was also an odd lull at the traditional peak of the season from mid-August to the end of September.

And through some very lucky circumstances, nearly every storm in the Atlantic arced north away from land.

Tragically, Hurricane Melissa, the last storm of the year, was also the strongest and deadliest, with winds of 185 mph and impacts that caused more than 90 fatalities in the Caribbean.

Stormy expectations

Expectations were high (as in rough) leading into the season. According to June outlooks from Colorado State’s tropical weather center, the 2025 season was supposed to be above average due to unusually warm sea surface temperatures in the Atlantic, and the fact that El Niño, which can hamper storms via wind shear, had dissipated.

Forecasters predicted that the 2025 season would generate:

– 17 named storms (there have been 13).

– 9 hurricanes (there have been five – Andrea, Chantal, Erin, Gabrielle and Melissa).

Protection forces and dumb luck

Fortunately, only one named storm, Chantal, made landfall in the U.S., when it rolled into South Carolina.

Powerful steering forces and a bit of “dumb luck” kept storms away.

The Bermuda High, a semi-permanent high pressure system that sits over the Atlantic and has the power to block hurricanes northward turns, was generally weak, so every storm traveling across the Atlantic took sharp turns to the north, away from land.

There were other fortuitous factors. Klozbach said that a low pressure area parked over the east coast for 5 or 6 weeks this summer blocked storms from approaching the U.S. It also produced a lot of win shear that would have hampered any storm that had broken through.

The wildcards were Hurricanes Humberto and Imelda. The two storms paralleled each other as they headed toward the U.S., with Imelda making a B-line for the Carolinas. But about a day before impact, the storm made a sudden dogleg out to the Atlantic, sucked away from land by Humberto’s winds.

“Imelda was a very close call,” said Klozbach. “That was really dumb luck that we had Humberto right there to basically tug Imelda out to sea.”

If Humberto hadn’t been there, “Imelda would have been a really bad rainmaker for the Carolinas,” Klozbach said.

Lulls-ville

During what is normally the peak of hurricane season — from mid August to late September — there was a lull in tropical activity. Klotzbach said that during the lull there were pronounced high-altitude, low-pressure systems — called tropical upper-tropospheric troughs — that sent wind shear across the Atlantic, nipping storms in the bud.

Hurricane Melissa, which would break records with sustained wind speeds of 185 mph, formed as a tropical storm on Oct. 21. It traveled over Caribbean waters with heat content that was “through the roof,” said Klotzbach.

That deep hot water was why Melissa was able to remain a Category 5 for some 36 hours – much longer than average.

This year’s hurricanes Humberto and Erin, which never made landfall, each had a six-hour stretch of Cat 5 power. 2005’s Katrina managed 18 hours.

“It’s rare to have no hurricanes in the Caribbean through mid October, and then fire off a Cat 5 – every year is weird, but I feel like in these last two years I’ve used the words weird and strange a lot,” said Klozbach.

The future

The season is essentially over. “I’d be very surprised if we got anything substantial at this point,” said Klozbach. Given the above average Accumulated Cyclone Energy, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will refer to 2025 as an “above normal” season.

As for next year, NOAA suspects the current weak La Niña will be around through the winter and return to neutral by spring.

“The last El Niño was 2023 to 2024, so there’s a possibility of getting one,” said Klozbach.

An El Niño normally brings shear, which is bad for hurricanes. That said, 2023 was an El Niño year and was still very very busy, said Klotzbach. “That’s because the Atlantic was so dang hot,” he said.