Record-breaking heat. Record-breaking rain. Record-breaking cold. We’ve had quite a last six weeks here in South Florida with our weather.
First we had record-breaking heat through the first two weeks of December, with an occasional chilly day. The heat wasn’t too bad (reaching about 90 degrees), especially compared to summer, but the humidity was obnoxious, and for about a week there we felt we would never escape from the heat and humidity combination that has chased us throughout our trip.
Doing errands was nearly like being in summer (think hot and sweaty), and we had the air conditioning kicking on at home in the middle of the night. For us that’s extreme, as we keep the air at 79-80 degrees.
The heat finally broke mid-December, only to give way to several days of flooding rains. We had amazing rains here in Delray, but nothing compared to what Miami and other areas got. Seeing photos of Miami with extreme flooding making news in mid December was really an experience.
After a brief and gorgeous spell of mellow weather through Christmas week, we are now dealing with what may be the longest extended cold spell in local history. The low temperatures are breaking records day after day – it’s been hitting national news for over a week now. The low temperatures are one thing – we’re used to a day or two every now and then of cold temps (we drag out our long pants and jackets and get all excited) – it’s the extended cold that is so noticeable. Our cats have been so cold that we’ve needed to get out fleece blankets for them to snuggle in, and they are spending most of their time inside – highly unusual for them.
We went overnight from sandals, shorts and tee-shirts to fleece pants, wool socks, silk turtlenecks, and heavy flannel shirts – ahhh, memories of last winter in Gueydan LA and the year before in California. The humidity is so low here that we’re under daily fire watches, and our cats don’t want us touching them because of the static electricity shocks. Local shelters are opening at night, breaking records for the number of people they’re serving; freeze warnings are up for local farms; wind chill advisories and fire warnings have been out for the last week.
It’s gone from being entertaining and interesting to being a serious problem for local farmers – with threats of widespread crop damage, ruined vacations for visitors, and huge heating bills for homes not built for this kind of cold.
But even as I write, we are on a gradual warming trend. This is Florida after all, and we’ll be back to our drop-dead gorgeous winter weather as soon as this weekend. It can’t come too soon for many of us!