JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Fall has arrived and if you're a cold weather lover, you may be wondering how far away the First Coast is from seeing its first frost or freeze of the season.
Remember: this is Florida we're talking about! :)
First of all, we're only in mid-October. We don't typically see frosts across the area for at least another month! However, there have been some changes to our averages this year. It has to do with the updated climate dataset.
We use the past 30 years to come up with our "averages" and the dataset is updated every 10 years. The new normals are now derived from the 1991 to 2020 period, versus the former normals derived from the 1981 to 2010 period.
In that time, Jacksonville's date of average first frost went from November 20 to November 29. In Waycross, the new date of the average first frost is now November 3 - two days behind the old average of November 1.
Take from this what you will, but it does back the idea of a warming climate overall.
Needless to say, just because Jacksonville's average first frost is November 29 doesn't mean we won't see a frost earlier on in the season - or the exact opposite with no frosts at all!
These averages are just guidance for what we can expect and when.
Happy Fall, y'all! Winter will be here before we know it.
For more weather explainer videos pertaining to the First Coast, visit Lauren Rautenkranz's YouTube channel.