WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:01.980 All right, if you are stepping out the door in 00:00:01.980 --> 00:00:04.280 the Florida panhandle right now, the wind chill 00:00:04.280 --> 00:00:06.320 isn't just uncomfortable. Oh, not at all. It 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:08.919 is sitting in the single digits. If you're in 00:00:08.919 --> 00:00:11.580 Tampa, you are waking up to a freeze watch that 00:00:11.580 --> 00:00:13.380 threatens to wipe out the winter guarding you 00:00:13.380 --> 00:00:16.780 just planted. And if you are in Miami, you're 00:00:16.780 --> 00:00:19.039 about to realize that that light denim jacket 00:00:19.039 --> 00:00:22.079 you keep for emergencies. Yeah, that one. It 00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:24.399 is not going to cut it today. This isn't just 00:00:24.399 --> 00:00:27.829 a cold front. It's a wake up call. Welcome to 00:00:27.829 --> 00:00:30.449 Meteorology Matters, the podcast that dives deep 00:00:30.449 --> 00:00:33.369 into the science, chaos, and stories behind the 00:00:33.369 --> 00:00:36.630 weather that shapes our world. This show was 00:00:36.630 --> 00:00:40.070 created by meteorologist Rob Jones. Now, let's 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:42.729 get into today's episode of Meteorology Matters. 00:00:42.829 --> 00:00:46.850 So here we are. It is Monday, January 26th, 2026. 00:00:47.429 --> 00:00:49.009 And I know a lot of you listening are probably 00:00:49.009 --> 00:00:50.810 huddled around a space heater right now, maybe 00:00:50.810 --> 00:00:52.369 scratching your heads because let's be honest. 00:00:52.369 --> 00:00:55.250 Oh, absolutely. Just 48 hours ago, we were talking 00:00:55.250 --> 00:00:58.090 about record breaking heat. We were looking at 00:00:58.090 --> 00:01:01.429 beach days. Yeah. And now the entire atmospheric 00:01:01.429 --> 00:01:05.290 script has just completely flipped. It is a classic 00:01:05.290 --> 00:01:08.189 meteorological whiplash. Yeah. I mean, it's the 00:01:08.189 --> 00:01:10.329 kind of thing that really defines Florida winters, 00:01:10.450 --> 00:01:14.810 but. but this specific event has some teeth to 00:01:14.810 --> 00:01:16.730 it that we really haven't seen in a little while. 00:01:16.989 --> 00:01:19.450 Great. This isn't just the standard, you know, 00:01:19.609 --> 00:01:21.829 put on a sweater for the morning commute situation. 00:01:22.170 --> 00:01:24.290 No. This is a setup that demands some respect. 00:01:24.489 --> 00:01:26.569 Whiplash is exactly the right word. We went from 00:01:26.569 --> 00:01:29.510 like, let's go to the beach to cover the plants 00:01:29.510 --> 00:01:33.010 in the blink of an eye. So, before we get into 00:01:33.010 --> 00:01:35.760 the history books... And folks, we have some 00:01:35.760 --> 00:01:37.859 incredible history to cover today. Oh, we do. 00:01:38.260 --> 00:01:40.739 From snow in Miami to the freeze that literally 00:01:40.739 --> 00:01:43.689 changed the map of Florida. Let's talk about 00:01:43.689 --> 00:01:45.810 right now what is happening outside our windows 00:01:45.810 --> 00:01:48.069 this morning. Because to the average person, 00:01:48.170 --> 00:01:50.670 it just looks sunny. That is the deception, isn't 00:01:50.670 --> 00:01:54.349 it? The mechanics of this are their textbook, 00:01:54.450 --> 00:01:57.609 but they're aggressive. Early this morning, a 00:01:57.609 --> 00:02:00.930 very, very strong cold front pushed through the 00:02:00.930 --> 00:02:03.090 entire peninsula. The whole thing. The whole 00:02:03.090 --> 00:02:04.629 thing. It's sweeping off the southeast coast 00:02:04.629 --> 00:02:06.989 as we speak, and it's just clearing out all the 00:02:06.989 --> 00:02:09.909 humidity and the clouds. And when we say cold 00:02:09.909 --> 00:02:11.740 front, We're not just talking about a little 00:02:11.740 --> 00:02:13.960 wind shift or a slight drop in the dew point. 00:02:14.039 --> 00:02:16.379 This is something else entirely. No, no. This 00:02:16.379 --> 00:02:19.699 is a total air mass change. You are literally 00:02:19.699 --> 00:02:23.259 replacing a maritime tropical air mass, you know, 00:02:23.360 --> 00:02:25.699 that warm, sticky stuff we love. Right. Our standard 00:02:25.699 --> 00:02:28.580 Florida air. With a continental polar air mass. 00:02:28.580 --> 00:02:31.280 Yeah. And behind this front, we have this dense, 00:02:31.360 --> 00:02:34.039 heavy layer of Arctic air that's just filtering 00:02:34.039 --> 00:02:37.469 in. the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 00:02:37.870 --> 00:02:40.270 or NOAA as we call it, they've been tracking 00:02:40.270 --> 00:02:43.210 this high pressure system settling in right behind 00:02:43.210 --> 00:02:45.150 the front. Okay, let's unpack that because I 00:02:45.150 --> 00:02:46.909 think high pressure is one of those terms we 00:02:46.909 --> 00:02:48.629 hear on the evening news all the time. All the 00:02:48.629 --> 00:02:51.750 time. But we rarely stop to think about the physics 00:02:51.750 --> 00:02:54.530 of it. Usually when we see that big blue H on 00:02:54.530 --> 00:02:56.990 the weather map, we think nice weather, we think 00:02:56.990 --> 00:02:59.389 picnics. Exactly, and that is the trap in winter. 00:02:59.990 --> 00:03:02.719 In the summer, High pressure is absolutely your 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:05.800 friend. It suppresses hurricanes. It keeps the 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:09.039 rain away. But in January, that high pressure 00:03:09.039 --> 00:03:12.599 system is essentially a massive sinking column 00:03:12.599 --> 00:03:15.460 of air. And as that air sinks, it warms slightly 00:03:15.460 --> 00:03:18.099 and it dries out, which is what wipes out the 00:03:18.099 --> 00:03:20.280 cloud cover. It just scrubs the sky completely 00:03:20.280 --> 00:03:22.180 clean. So we lose our blanket. That's really 00:03:22.180 --> 00:03:23.759 the best way I can visualize it. We lose our 00:03:23.759 --> 00:03:26.099 insulation. Yeah. Think of clouds as a thick 00:03:26.099 --> 00:03:28.560 down duvet cover for the earth. During the day, 00:03:28.879 --> 00:03:31.199 the sun heats the ground, that's shortwave radiation 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:34.020 coming in, the concrete, the grass, the ocean, 00:03:34.620 --> 00:03:37.900 it all absorbs that heat. But at night, the ground 00:03:37.900 --> 00:03:40.219 tries to send that heat back out into space as 00:03:40.219 --> 00:03:43.280 longwave radiation. And water vapor clouds, they're 00:03:43.280 --> 00:03:45.139 really, really good at trapping that long wave 00:03:45.139 --> 00:03:47.599 radiation. They act like a ceiling. They are 00:03:47.599 --> 00:03:49.300 excellent at it. They bounce that heat right 00:03:49.300 --> 00:03:51.500 back down to us. And that's why a cloudy night 00:03:51.500 --> 00:03:53.439 in winter can feel relatively mild, you know? 00:03:53.479 --> 00:03:56.900 Sure. But this week, that Arctic air mass is 00:03:56.900 --> 00:04:00.009 bone dry. the dew points are crashing down into 00:04:00.009 --> 00:04:02.590 the teens. There's no water vapor, there are 00:04:02.590 --> 00:04:04.750 no clouds, there's nothing to stop that heat 00:04:04.750 --> 00:04:07.669 from just escaping. It's essentially an open 00:04:07.669 --> 00:04:10.610 door to outer space. So the moment the sun sets, 00:04:10.810 --> 00:04:12.629 the temperature isn't just dropping gradually, 00:04:12.770 --> 00:04:15.669 it's literally free -falling. We call it ideal 00:04:15.669 --> 00:04:18.970 radiational cooling. And because the air is so 00:04:18.970 --> 00:04:22.589 dry, there's no floor to stop that drop until 00:04:22.589 --> 00:04:24.350 you hit that dew point, which like I said is 00:04:24.350 --> 00:04:26.529 way down in the 20s. That dryness is something 00:04:26.529 --> 00:04:28.410 I saw in the discussion from the National Weather 00:04:28.410 --> 00:04:31.750 Service in Tampa. They mentioned humidity dropping 00:04:31.750 --> 00:04:35.230 below critical levels. And this brings up a secondary 00:04:35.230 --> 00:04:37.670 hazard that I don't think people associate with 00:04:37.670 --> 00:04:39.910 freezing cold. That's right. We are actually 00:04:39.910 --> 00:04:42.069 looking at a fire weather context here, too. 00:04:42.209 --> 00:04:43.829 In the middle of a freeze. In the middle of a 00:04:43.829 --> 00:04:46.569 freeze. When the air gets this dry, and we're 00:04:46.569 --> 00:04:49.050 talking relative humidity plummeting into the 00:04:49.050 --> 00:04:52.600 20, 30 % range, it acts like a sponge. It just 00:04:52.600 --> 00:04:54.980 sucks the moisture right out of all the vegetation. 00:04:55.560 --> 00:04:57.220 The dead grass, the pine needles, the scrub. 00:04:57.300 --> 00:04:59.980 It all becomes tinder. Instant tinder. So even 00:04:59.980 --> 00:05:01.899 though it's freezing, the fire risk actually 00:05:01.899 --> 00:05:04.600 goes up. I mean, that's just a cruel irony, isn't 00:05:04.600 --> 00:05:06.519 it? You're shivering, but you have to worry about 00:05:06.519 --> 00:05:09.160 wildfires. It is. And it feels colder on your 00:05:09.160 --> 00:05:12.040 skin, too. We always talk about dry heat, right? 00:05:12.139 --> 00:05:15.439 Sure. But dry cold is its own kind of beast. 00:05:15.629 --> 00:05:18.129 your body moisture evaporates much faster in 00:05:18.129 --> 00:05:21.050 this dry air, which cools your skin very rapidly. 00:05:21.970 --> 00:05:24.370 That's why 40 degrees in a dry air mass feels 00:05:24.370 --> 00:05:27.389 so much sharper and more biting than 40 degrees 00:05:27.389 --> 00:05:30.040 in a damp one. Now, the other thing that really 00:05:30.040 --> 00:05:32.480 stands out to me about this particular setup 00:05:32.480 --> 00:05:37.079 for January 2026 is the duration. Yes. Usually, 00:05:37.439 --> 00:05:40.040 Florida cold snaps are like bad house guests. 00:05:40.439 --> 00:05:42.800 They show up, make you uncomfortable for a day, 00:05:42.959 --> 00:05:44.879 drink all your coffee, and then they leave. Right. 00:05:45.019 --> 00:05:48.459 A hit and run cold front. This is not that. Now, 00:05:48.459 --> 00:05:50.180 looking at the extended forecast, this looks 00:05:50.180 --> 00:05:52.959 more like a siege. It's a prolonged event. The 00:05:52.959 --> 00:05:54.939 National Weather Service is being very explicit 00:05:54.939 --> 00:05:57.639 about this, that this isn't a one and done scenario. 00:05:58.089 --> 00:06:01.670 at a synoptic pattern, a really large scale atmospheric 00:06:01.670 --> 00:06:04.490 setup that is going to lock in this cold air 00:06:04.490 --> 00:06:06.350 all week long. All week. We're talking about 00:06:06.350 --> 00:06:08.610 hard freeze chances every single night through 00:06:08.610 --> 00:06:10.709 Wednesday or even Thursday for the northern parts 00:06:10.709 --> 00:06:13.230 of the state. And freezing temperatures are going 00:06:13.230 --> 00:06:16.009 to persist well into the week, even for central 00:06:16.009 --> 00:06:19.360 areas. So do not put the plants back out tomorrow 00:06:19.360 --> 00:06:21.939 morning. I feel like that is the classic mistake 00:06:21.939 --> 00:06:24.019 people make. The biggest mistake. They uncover 00:06:24.019 --> 00:06:26.920 everything on Tuesday thinking the worst is over 00:06:26.920 --> 00:06:28.899 and then Wednesday morning hits them even harder. 00:06:29.399 --> 00:06:32.120 Absolutely not. Keep them covered. This is a 00:06:32.120 --> 00:06:34.779 multi -day grind. The atmosphere is just sluggish 00:06:34.779 --> 00:06:37.139 right now that high pressure isn't going anywhere 00:06:37.139 --> 00:06:40.029 fast. Okay, let's take a virtual tour of the 00:06:40.029 --> 00:06:42.610 state because Florida is such a long peninsula 00:06:42.610 --> 00:06:45.610 and the experience is going to vary wildly depending 00:06:45.610 --> 00:06:47.930 on your latitude. I want to make sure everyone 00:06:47.930 --> 00:06:50.189 listening knows exactly what they are facing 00:06:50.189 --> 00:06:53.129 in their own backyard. Let's start up in the 00:06:53.129 --> 00:06:55.790 Panhandle the Freezer, as I'm calling it today. 00:06:57.149 --> 00:06:59.310 Tallahassee, Panama City. Chuckles. That's a 00:06:59.310 --> 00:07:01.290 good name for it. I mean, driving along I -10 00:07:01.290 --> 00:07:03.129 right now must feel like driving through the 00:07:03.129 --> 00:07:07.170 Midwest. It is brutal. And dangerous is the word 00:07:07.170 --> 00:07:09.029 we really need to use. We aren't just talking 00:07:09.029 --> 00:07:11.529 about discomfort up there. The National Weather 00:07:11.529 --> 00:07:13.829 Service in Tallahassee has issued an extreme 00:07:13.829 --> 00:07:16.970 cold warning and a hard freeze warning. And the 00:07:16.970 --> 00:07:19.290 numbers absolutely back that up. I was looking 00:07:19.290 --> 00:07:22.310 at the data points for Tallahassee for tonight, 00:07:23.029 --> 00:07:27.430 Monday night. We are dropping to 24 degrees Fahrenheit. 00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:30.500 24 degrees. And you have to remember, that is 00:07:30.500 --> 00:07:32.860 the air temperature measured at five feet off 00:07:32.860 --> 00:07:34.899 the ground in a sheltered box. Right. That's 00:07:34.899 --> 00:07:37.439 the official number. When you factor in the wind, 00:07:37.740 --> 00:07:41.100 which is coming in from the Northwest, it's advecting 00:07:41.100 --> 00:07:44.639 or transporting that cold air in the wind chills 00:07:44.639 --> 00:07:47.339 are ranging from nine degrees to 20 degrees. 00:07:47.819 --> 00:07:51.500 Single digit wind chills in Florida. That is 00:07:51.500 --> 00:07:53.939 physically painful. It really is. I want to talk 00:07:53.939 --> 00:07:55.699 about wind chill for a second, because some people 00:07:55.699 --> 00:07:58.139 think it's kind of a made up metric. But there's 00:07:58.139 --> 00:08:00.519 real physics there, isn't there? It is very real 00:08:00.519 --> 00:08:03.939 thermodynamics. Your body generates heat, right? 00:08:03.959 --> 00:08:06.500 And it creates this thin little layer of warm 00:08:06.500 --> 00:08:09.199 air right next to your skin. It's like an invisible 00:08:09.199 --> 00:08:11.199 force field of warmth. When the wind blows, it 00:08:11.199 --> 00:08:13.600 just strips that layer away. It's gone. So your 00:08:13.600 --> 00:08:15.860 body has to work overtime to generate new heat 00:08:15.860 --> 00:08:18.920 to replace it. And the faster the wind, the faster 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:20.740 that heat loss happens. So when they say the 00:08:20.740 --> 00:08:23.279 wind chill is nine degrees. It means your body 00:08:23.279 --> 00:08:26.220 is losing heat. at the same rate it would if 00:08:26.220 --> 00:08:28.519 it were actually nine degrees outside with no 00:08:28.519 --> 00:08:31.579 wind. Which means hypothermia isn't just a risk, 00:08:31.759 --> 00:08:34.580 it's a probability if you aren't prepared. It 00:08:34.580 --> 00:08:36.399 is life -threatening for those without shelter. 00:08:36.440 --> 00:08:39.320 Yeah. Absolutely. And the NWS Kalahasi office 00:08:39.320 --> 00:08:42.460 put out a very specific reminder about the four 00:08:42.460 --> 00:08:45.039 P's. I love a good mnemonic device. It helps 00:08:45.039 --> 00:08:46.940 the information stick when you're panicked, you 00:08:46.940 --> 00:08:50.580 know. Let's hear it. People, pets, plants, and 00:08:50.580 --> 00:08:54.009 pipes. Okay. You need to check on... people, 00:08:54.549 --> 00:08:56.610 especially elderly or anyone without adequate 00:08:56.610 --> 00:08:59.370 heating. Bring the pets inside. If you're cold, 00:08:59.409 --> 00:09:01.350 they're cold. It's that simple. Right. Cover 00:09:01.350 --> 00:09:03.649 or bring in your sensitive plants. Right. And 00:09:03.649 --> 00:09:05.830 the last one, pipes, is the one that causes the 00:09:05.830 --> 00:09:08.389 most expensive damage. Let's drill down on the 00:09:08.389 --> 00:09:10.649 pipes for a second. Why do pipes actually burst? 00:09:10.850 --> 00:09:12.889 I think people assume the ice just blocks the 00:09:12.889 --> 00:09:14.870 pipe and cracks it from the inside, but it's 00:09:14.870 --> 00:09:17.399 more about pressure, isn't it? Exactly. As the 00:09:17.399 --> 00:09:20.120 water freezes inside the pipe, it expands. We 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:22.639 all know that. But the burst usually doesn't 00:09:22.639 --> 00:09:25.159 happen right where the ice is. The ice creates 00:09:25.159 --> 00:09:28.259 a blockage and the water pressure builds up between 00:09:28.259 --> 00:09:31.200 that ice blockage and the closed faucet. Ah, 00:09:31.259 --> 00:09:33.639 it's trapped. It's trapped. That pressure has 00:09:33.639 --> 00:09:35.820 nowhere to go and eventually it just ruptures 00:09:35.820 --> 00:09:38.110 the pipe. That's why letting a faucet drip is 00:09:38.110 --> 00:09:40.450 so effective. It relieves that pressure. It gives 00:09:40.450 --> 00:09:42.269 it an escape valve. It relieves that pressure 00:09:42.269 --> 00:09:44.710 buildup. It's such a good reminder. We often 00:09:44.710 --> 00:09:47.009 forget about pipes in Florida because we just 00:09:47.009 --> 00:09:49.750 don't deal with this duration of cold very often. 00:09:49.950 --> 00:09:52.470 A few hours of freezing. The pipes are usually 00:09:52.470 --> 00:09:55.389 insulated enough by the ground warmth, but 24 00:09:55.389 --> 00:09:58.529 degrees for eight hours straight. That penetrates 00:09:58.529 --> 00:10:01.789 the walls. Yeah. The duration allows the cold 00:10:01.789 --> 00:10:04.350 to soak deep into the infrastructure. Now, let's 00:10:04.350 --> 00:10:07.309 slide down I -75 into central Florida and the 00:10:07.309 --> 00:10:10.049 Tampa Bay area. This is what I'm calling the 00:10:10.049 --> 00:10:13.049 danger zone, and mainly because people here are 00:10:13.049 --> 00:10:15.590 even less prepared than the folks in the panhandle. 00:10:15.929 --> 00:10:17.990 That's a fair assessment. Up north, they at least 00:10:17.990 --> 00:10:21.610 have fireplaces. In Tampa, we have Linnae. Ah, 00:10:21.629 --> 00:10:24.590 it chuckles. That's right. The architecture changes 00:10:24.590 --> 00:10:27.009 as you go south, doesn't it? We build our homes 00:10:27.009 --> 00:10:29.980 to release heat, not to trap it. and the data 00:10:29.980 --> 00:10:32.679 shows exactly why they need to be on alert. We 00:10:32.679 --> 00:10:35.019 have freeze watches and warnings extending deep 00:10:35.019 --> 00:10:37.639 into the peninsula. I saw Brooksville is forecast 00:10:37.639 --> 00:10:40.279 to plummet to 25 degrees. I mean, that is a hard 00:10:40.279 --> 00:10:42.440 freeze. Yes, and even Tampa proper is looking 00:10:42.440 --> 00:10:45.480 at 36 degrees, with inline areas of Pasco and 00:10:45.480 --> 00:10:47.639 Hillsborough counties facing those hard freezing 00:10:47.639 --> 00:10:50.639 conditions. And this is where topography really, 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:53.259 really matters. If you live in a low -lying area, 00:10:53.480 --> 00:10:56.620 Cold air is dense. It sinks. It flows like water. 00:10:56.679 --> 00:10:58.980 It flows like water into the valleys and depressions. 00:10:59.460 --> 00:11:01.559 So while the airport might officially read 36, 00:11:02.120 --> 00:11:04.299 your backyard in Little Valley could easily be 00:11:04.299 --> 00:11:06.759 30. And it's interesting, the forecast discussion 00:11:06.759 --> 00:11:09.159 from Tampa mentioned that the showers are ending 00:11:09.159 --> 00:11:11.639 early this morning, Monday. So the story transitions 00:11:11.639 --> 00:11:14.559 so rapidly from, is it going to rain, to just 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:18.179 pure cold? Correct. The rain is the leading edge. 00:11:18.620 --> 00:11:21.240 But the real story is the air mass behind it. 00:11:21.470 --> 00:11:24.169 The one saving grace for Central Florida, according 00:11:24.169 --> 00:11:26.570 to that forecast discussion, is that the winds 00:11:26.570 --> 00:11:30.879 are expected to stay below 15 mph. So not quite 00:11:30.879 --> 00:11:34.039 the howling gales of a blizzard, but still. Still, 00:11:34.299 --> 00:11:37.840 10 to 15 miles per hour at 30 degrees cuts right 00:11:37.840 --> 00:11:40.679 through you. Oh, yeah. And for agriculture, for 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.100 the strawberry farmers in Plant City, for the 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:45.720 remaining citrus groves, these temperatures are 00:11:45.720 --> 00:11:47.659 absolutely critical. Let's talk about the strawberries 00:11:47.659 --> 00:11:49.620 for just a second. If you drive past those fields 00:11:49.620 --> 00:11:51.519 tonight, you might see them spraying water on 00:11:51.519 --> 00:11:54.299 the plants, which seems completely insane. You're 00:11:54.299 --> 00:11:56.299 spraying water and freezing temperatures, but 00:11:56.299 --> 00:11:58.539 there's some incredible science there, too. It 00:11:58.539 --> 00:12:01.120 is a brilliant application of physics. It's called 00:12:01.120 --> 00:12:04.320 the heat of fusion. As water turns from a liquid 00:12:04.320 --> 00:12:07.620 to solid ice, it actually releases latent heat 00:12:07.620 --> 00:12:10.700 energy. It releases heat. It does. So farmers 00:12:10.700 --> 00:12:12.899 spray the plants to encase the berries in a layer 00:12:12.899 --> 00:12:15.559 of ice. As long as that water is continuously 00:12:15.559 --> 00:12:18.039 freezing, the temperature inside that little 00:12:18.039 --> 00:12:21.700 ice cocoon stays right at 32 degrees. Wow. It 00:12:21.700 --> 00:12:24.580 won't drop below that. So the ice acts as a heater. 00:12:24.909 --> 00:12:28.210 In a way, yes, it acts as a shield against the 00:12:28.210 --> 00:12:31.429 much colder sub -freezing air, keeping the plant 00:12:31.429 --> 00:12:33.789 tissue just warm enough to survive. But you have 00:12:33.789 --> 00:12:36.409 to keep the water on. But it requires constant 00:12:36.409 --> 00:12:39.409 water. If the water stops, the evaporative cooling 00:12:39.409 --> 00:12:42.009 takes over and the crop is lost in minutes. It's 00:12:42.009 --> 00:12:44.669 a high stakes game. And even moving further south, 00:12:44.870 --> 00:12:46.490 you know, usually we say South Florida, you're 00:12:46.490 --> 00:12:49.190 fine. But looking at Miami and Naples, you are 00:12:49.190 --> 00:12:51.610 not escaping this pattern. No, the chill goes 00:12:51.610 --> 00:12:54.690 all the way to the Keys. Miami will see some 00:12:54.690 --> 00:12:56.830 light rain lingering through Monday afternoon, 00:12:57.169 --> 00:12:59.350 which will keep the temperature suppressed. And 00:12:59.350 --> 00:13:02.409 then that dry air takes over. Now, we aren't 00:13:02.409 --> 00:13:04.909 seeing a freeze in downtown Miami. The urban 00:13:04.909 --> 00:13:07.590 heat island effect and the proximity to the warm 00:13:07.590 --> 00:13:09.769 ocean helps there. Right. But we are looking 00:13:09.769 --> 00:13:11.509 at temperatures dropping into the 40s. Which 00:13:11.509 --> 00:13:13.529 for a Miami resident requires breaking out the 00:13:13.529 --> 00:13:16.009 heavy goat. That's true winter. It's definitively 00:13:16.009 --> 00:13:18.710 heater weather compared to the norm. And similar 00:13:18.710 --> 00:13:20.850 to the north, the duration matters. It's going 00:13:20.850 --> 00:13:22.929 to be chilly for days, not just for a few hours. 00:13:23.190 --> 00:13:25.389 You know, when we talk about cold in Florida, 00:13:25.649 --> 00:13:28.419 there is always this sense of... Has this happened 00:13:28.419 --> 00:13:31.740 before? We have such short memories. We do. We 00:13:31.740 --> 00:13:34.539 only remember the beach days. But looking at 00:13:34.539 --> 00:13:37.539 the history books, Florida has a really, really 00:13:37.539 --> 00:13:40.139 wild relationship with cold weather. And there's 00:13:40.139 --> 00:13:43.159 one date that I think every Floridian either 00:13:43.159 --> 00:13:45.379 remembers or has heard their grandparents talk 00:13:45.379 --> 00:13:49.799 about. January 19, 1977. the day it snowed in 00:13:49.799 --> 00:13:52.440 Miami. It is the headline event of Florida weather 00:13:52.440 --> 00:13:54.940 history. It's legendary. It sounds like a myth, 00:13:54.940 --> 00:13:56.620 doesn't it? If you didn't see the photos, you 00:13:56.620 --> 00:13:58.580 wouldn't believe it actually happened. But let's 00:13:58.580 --> 00:14:01.919 unpack the meteorological story of 1977 because 00:14:01.919 --> 00:14:04.779 there are some eerie similarities to what we 00:14:04.779 --> 00:14:07.259 are seeing this week, even if the result isn't 00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:09.539 quite as extreme. There are similarities in the 00:14:09.539 --> 00:14:12.320 broad strokes for sure. In 1977, just like today, 00:14:12.320 --> 00:14:15.120 we had a strong Arctic front move through. But 00:14:15.120 --> 00:14:18.110 the setup then was just It was perfectly aligned 00:14:18.110 --> 00:14:19.950 to funnel air straight from the deep Arctic. 00:14:20.330 --> 00:14:22.789 There was a massive, incredibly strong, high 00:14:22.789 --> 00:14:25.190 pressure system situated right over the Mississippi 00:14:25.190 --> 00:14:26.850 River Valley. So it acted like a giant pump. 00:14:27.289 --> 00:14:29.710 Exactly. We call it meridional flow. Instead 00:14:29.710 --> 00:14:32.149 of the jet stream moving west to east, it took 00:14:32.149 --> 00:14:35.470 this massive dive south. It pumped that frigid 00:14:35.470 --> 00:14:37.409 air all the way down the spine of the continent. 00:14:37.409 --> 00:14:41.649 Yeah. And what made 1977 so unique was that there 00:14:41.649 --> 00:14:45.259 was an upper level trough a dip in the atmosphere's 00:14:45.259 --> 00:14:47.980 pressure high up in the sky that brought a band 00:14:47.980 --> 00:14:51.080 of clouds and precipitation right along with 00:14:51.080 --> 00:14:53.820 that cold air. Which is the opposite of what's 00:14:53.820 --> 00:14:56.659 happening now. The exact opposite. Usually, like 00:14:56.659 --> 00:14:58.639 we just discussed, the cold air brings clear 00:14:58.639 --> 00:15:01.820 skies. In 77, the moisture and the cold arrived 00:15:01.820 --> 00:15:05.019 together. And that collision created. Well, it 00:15:05.019 --> 00:15:07.059 created magic. I've read the accounts of people 00:15:07.059 --> 00:15:10.850 stopping their cars on I -95. It was chaos. Beautiful 00:15:10.850 --> 00:15:13.730 chaos, but chaos. People were stopping on the 00:15:13.730 --> 00:15:15.289 highway, getting out of their cars just to look 00:15:15.289 --> 00:15:17.429 up at the sky. I mean, you have to remember, 00:15:17.769 --> 00:15:19.649 many of these people had never seen snow in their 00:15:19.649 --> 00:15:21.590 entire lives. They didn't know what it was. They 00:15:21.590 --> 00:15:24.370 didn't. In fact, initial reports show that people 00:15:24.370 --> 00:15:26.049 were calling the police thinking there was a 00:15:26.049 --> 00:15:27.929 chemical fire nearby and ash was falling from 00:15:27.929 --> 00:15:30.350 the sky. Wow. They couldn't process that it was 00:15:30.350 --> 00:15:32.750 snow. The visuals are just incredible. I saw 00:15:32.750 --> 00:15:35.429 a picture from the Miami Herald archives showing 00:15:35.429 --> 00:15:38.649 a headline that just said snow in Miami in these 00:15:38.649 --> 00:15:41.429 giant letters. It was a souvenir edition. And 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:44.549 for good reason, we are talking about snow flurries 00:15:44.549 --> 00:15:47.769 being reported as far south as Homestead. Homestead. 00:15:48.029 --> 00:15:50.049 That is practically the tropics. I mean, that's 00:15:50.049 --> 00:15:52.850 as far south as you can get. It is the southernmost 00:15:52.850 --> 00:15:55.970 snow record in the contiguous United States. 00:15:55.970 --> 00:15:57.889 It happened at the Homestead Air Force Base. 00:15:58.669 --> 00:16:01.269 And here is a fact that always, always blows 00:16:01.269 --> 00:16:04.870 my mind. Go on. Freeport, Bahamas, reported mixed 00:16:04.870 --> 00:16:07.549 rain and snow. The Bahamas? You're kidding me. 00:16:07.590 --> 00:16:10.590 The Bahamas. It is the only known snowfall in 00:16:10.590 --> 00:16:14.009 their 358 -year recorded history. That is insane. 00:16:14.230 --> 00:16:17.690 That is how powerful and how deep that 1977 cold 00:16:17.690 --> 00:16:19.909 wave was. It pushed the temperature zone deep 00:16:19.909 --> 00:16:22.049 into the subtropics. And the temperature in Miami 00:16:22.049 --> 00:16:24.289 that day, what was the high? The high temperature, 00:16:24.409 --> 00:16:27.009 the high for the day was only 47 degrees Fahrenheit. 00:16:27.309 --> 00:16:29.529 That is just miserable. But of course, while 00:16:29.529 --> 00:16:31.350 we look back on it with a sense of nostalgia 00:16:31.350 --> 00:16:33.970 and wonder, oh, the day the palm trees turned 00:16:33.970 --> 00:16:36.549 white. At the time, it wasn't just fun flakes. 00:16:36.690 --> 00:16:38.629 It was an absolute disaster. It was an economic 00:16:38.629 --> 00:16:40.909 catastrophe. We have to remember Florida is the 00:16:40.909 --> 00:16:43.029 winter salad bowl for the entire East Coast. 00:16:43.470 --> 00:16:46.429 When you drop temperatures that low, things die. 00:16:46.590 --> 00:16:49.789 The numbers are just spaggering. In 1977 currency, 00:16:49.970 --> 00:16:52.750 the damage was estimated at two billion dollars. 00:16:52.929 --> 00:16:55.429 Two billion. If you adjust that for inflation 00:16:55.429 --> 00:16:58.490 today, it's astronomical. They lost 35 percent 00:16:58.490 --> 00:17:01.269 of the citrus crop. They lost 95 percent of the 00:17:01.269 --> 00:17:03.830 vegetables. 95 percent. That means if you were 00:17:03.830 --> 00:17:06.430 a vegetable farmer in Dade County, you were wiped 00:17:06.430 --> 00:17:08.950 out. Your entire year was gone. Completely wiped 00:17:08.950 --> 00:17:11.769 out. And the political context of this is fascinating, 00:17:11.950 --> 00:17:14.849 too. This happened on January 19th. The very 00:17:14.849 --> 00:17:18.690 next day, January 20th, 1977, Jimmy Carter was 00:17:18.690 --> 00:17:20.869 inaugurated as president. So his first day on 00:17:20.869 --> 00:17:23.069 the gop. One of his first actions was declaring 00:17:23.069 --> 00:17:26.849 a disaster area for 35 Florida counties. Wow. 00:17:27.390 --> 00:17:29.190 Imagine that being your introduction to the Oval 00:17:29.190 --> 00:17:31.349 Office. But he was a peanut farmer from Georgia. 00:17:31.869 --> 00:17:34.450 He understood agriculture. He knew exactly what 00:17:34.450 --> 00:17:36.869 that freeze meant for the livelihoods of thousands 00:17:36.869 --> 00:17:39.130 of people. It really highlights how vulnerable 00:17:39.130 --> 00:17:41.589 the state is, doesn't it? We build our lives 00:17:41.589 --> 00:17:44.349 here assuming a tropical climate and then nature 00:17:44.349 --> 00:17:46.670 just reminds us that the continent is right there 00:17:46.670 --> 00:17:49.430 to the north, waiting to spill over. We aren't 00:17:49.430 --> 00:17:51.609 an island, no matter how much we sometimes feel 00:17:51.609 --> 00:17:53.890 like one. That connects perfectly to the why 00:17:53.890 --> 00:17:56.990 of this week's weather. We are attached to North 00:17:56.990 --> 00:18:00.420 America. When the gates open up north, when that 00:18:00.420 --> 00:18:03.619 Arctic oscillation goes negative, there is nothing 00:18:03.619 --> 00:18:06.099 geographically to stop that air from sliding 00:18:06.099 --> 00:18:07.920 down the plains and hitting us. There are no 00:18:07.920 --> 00:18:10.240 mountains. No mountain ranges running east -west 00:18:10.240 --> 00:18:12.779 to block it. It's a straight shot. Now, 1977 00:18:12.779 --> 00:18:15.910 was the snow event. But if we want to talk about 00:18:15.910 --> 00:18:18.789 the grind, that feeling of coal that just won't 00:18:18.789 --> 00:18:20.690 go away, which is what we are forecasting for 00:18:20.690 --> 00:18:23.430 this week in 2026, we really need to look at 00:18:23.430 --> 00:18:26.549 January 2010. January 2010 is the best modern 00:18:26.549 --> 00:18:30.710 comparison for duration. 1977 was a sharp, violent 00:18:30.710 --> 00:18:33.640 shock. 2010 was a marathon. I remember that winter. 00:18:33.700 --> 00:18:35.740 It felt like it lasted forever. I distinctly 00:18:35.740 --> 00:18:37.599 remember seeing iguanas falling out of trees 00:18:37.599 --> 00:18:39.460 on the news. That became a global news story, 00:18:39.599 --> 00:18:42.240 the frozen iguanas. But biologically, that happens 00:18:42.240 --> 00:18:44.740 because they are cold blooded. When the temps 00:18:44.740 --> 00:18:47.640 drop into the 40s, their bodies just shut down, 00:18:47.680 --> 00:18:50.619 they lose their grip and they fall. But beyond 00:18:50.619 --> 00:18:54.880 the reptiles, 2010 was a 12 -day cold snap. For 00:18:54.880 --> 00:18:57.799 us meteorologists, the consistency was the story. 00:18:57.920 --> 00:19:00.420 We saw this blocking pattern in the atmosphere, 00:19:00.779 --> 00:19:03.400 likely a Greenland block, that just kept the 00:19:03.400 --> 00:19:05.599 cold air flowing. I was looking at the data for 00:19:05.599 --> 00:19:08.099 West Palm Beach from that event. It is unbelievable. 00:19:08.380 --> 00:19:10.619 It really is. West Palm Beach had 12 straight 00:19:10.619 --> 00:19:13.680 days with low temperatures at or below 45 degrees. 00:19:13.880 --> 00:19:16.400 12 straight days. That broke records going all 00:19:16.400 --> 00:19:18.900 the way back to 1940. That means for nearly two 00:19:18.900 --> 00:19:21.079 weeks you could not go outside without a coat 00:19:21.079 --> 00:19:24.119 in West Palm Beach. That's just... That's not 00:19:24.119 --> 00:19:25.980 Florida. And it wasn't just the nights. The days 00:19:25.980 --> 00:19:28.539 were cold. There were days where the highs barely 00:19:28.539 --> 00:19:31.160 got out of the 40s or low 50s. And the consequences 00:19:31.160 --> 00:19:33.319 of that, again, we go right back to agriculture. 00:19:33.579 --> 00:19:36.259 Yes, 500 million dollars in crop losses in 2010. 00:19:36.660 --> 00:19:39.079 But there's also a human toll that we absolutely 00:19:39.079 --> 00:19:42.140 need to acknowledge. In 2010, there were fatalities 00:19:42.140 --> 00:19:45.319 due to exposure. Right. I remember reading about 00:19:45.319 --> 00:19:47.619 a homeless individual in Hollywood, Florida who 00:19:47.619 --> 00:19:49.970 passed away. And it's just a tragic reminder. 00:19:50.109 --> 00:19:52.069 When we talk about checking your neighbors or 00:19:52.069 --> 00:19:55.130 the four P's, it's not just a slogan. In Florida, 00:19:55.589 --> 00:19:57.849 people are not equipped for 12 days of cold. 00:19:58.349 --> 00:20:00.369 Our homes aren't insulated for it. Like we said, 00:20:00.509 --> 00:20:02.930 we build homes to breathe, to let heat out. People 00:20:02.930 --> 00:20:04.549 don't own the right clothes. They don't have 00:20:04.549 --> 00:20:06.809 the heavy clothing for it. And the homeless population 00:20:06.809 --> 00:20:09.809 is extremely vulnerable to that prolonged exposure. 00:20:10.000 --> 00:20:12.920 It really reinforces why this week's forecast 00:20:12.920 --> 00:20:17.079 for 2026 is so critical. If this drags on, the 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:19.460 risk just accumulates. It's not about surviving 00:20:19.460 --> 00:20:22.299 one night. No. It's about the cumulative stress 00:20:22.299 --> 00:20:24.819 on the body and on the infrastructure. Precisely. 00:20:25.049 --> 00:20:27.849 And just to add one more detail to 2010, it proved 00:20:27.849 --> 00:20:30.470 that 1977 wasn't entirely unique when it comes 00:20:30.470 --> 00:20:33.289 to precipitation. In January 2010, there were 00:20:33.289 --> 00:20:35.930 actually reports of sleet and snow in Orlando 00:20:35.930 --> 00:20:37.890 and Melbourne. That's right. I totally forgot 00:20:37.890 --> 00:20:40.269 about the Space Coast getting sleet. It happens. 00:20:40.890 --> 00:20:43.230 It's rare. But when you have that much cold air 00:20:43.230 --> 00:20:45.950 in place for that long, all it takes is a tiny 00:20:45.950 --> 00:20:48.029 little bit of moisture to wring out and produce 00:20:48.029 --> 00:20:50.450 something wintry. Okay, so we've done the nostalgia 00:20:50.450 --> 00:20:53.210 trip to the 70s. We've relived the grind of 2010. 00:20:54.009 --> 00:20:56.329 But if we really want to understand why Florida 00:20:56.329 --> 00:20:58.549 looks the way it does today, I mean why the oranges 00:20:58.549 --> 00:21:01.130 are where they are, we have to go way back. Way 00:21:01.130 --> 00:21:03.329 back. We have to go to the 19th century. The 00:21:03.329 --> 00:21:07.089 great freeze of 1894 and 1895. This is the event 00:21:07.089 --> 00:21:09.170 that changed everything. It was a landscape change. 00:21:09.210 --> 00:21:11.859 Yeah. Literally. Yeah. Before this winter, the 00:21:11.859 --> 00:21:14.599 heart of the Florida citrus industry wasn't in 00:21:14.599 --> 00:21:16.900 central or south Florida. No way. It was in north 00:21:16.900 --> 00:21:19.700 Florida, around Jacksonville, St. Augustine, 00:21:20.000 --> 00:21:22.660 all along the St. Johns River. That seems unimaginable 00:21:22.660 --> 00:21:25.640 now. Growing oranges in Jacksonville, that's 00:21:25.640 --> 00:21:28.519 almost Georgia. It was thriving. They were producing 00:21:28.519 --> 00:21:30.960 millions of boxes of fruit. The railroads were 00:21:30.960 --> 00:21:33.240 built specifically to haul this fruit north. 00:21:33.779 --> 00:21:37.789 But then came the winter of 1894 -95. And it 00:21:37.789 --> 00:21:40.210 wasn't just one freeze. It was the one -two punch 00:21:40.210 --> 00:21:43.190 that made it so deadly. Explain that mechanism, 00:21:43.250 --> 00:21:45.490 because this is fascinating biology. It wasn't 00:21:45.490 --> 00:21:47.170 just the cold. It was the timing of it all. It 00:21:47.170 --> 00:21:50.490 was a biological trap. So punch one comes in 00:21:50.490 --> 00:21:54.779 December of 1894. A severe freeze hits. It damages 00:21:54.779 --> 00:21:57.559 the trees, it defoliates them, strips all the 00:21:57.559 --> 00:22:00.119 leaves off, but it doesn't kill the mature trees 00:22:00.119 --> 00:22:02.779 outright. OK, so the trees are hurt, but they're 00:22:02.779 --> 00:22:05.200 alive. They go into a sort of triage mode. Right. 00:22:05.619 --> 00:22:08.019 But then, in typical Florida weather fashion, 00:22:08.220 --> 00:22:10.519 it warms up. January comes around. It's warm 00:22:10.519 --> 00:22:12.819 and pleasant. The trees think, OK, the danger 00:22:12.819 --> 00:22:15.500 has passed. Time for survival mode. They start 00:22:15.500 --> 00:22:17.140 pushing out new growth. They flush with sap. 00:22:17.200 --> 00:22:19.480 They let their guard down. Completely. To grow 00:22:19.480 --> 00:22:21.900 those new, tender leaves, the tree has to fill 00:22:21.900 --> 00:22:24.359 its vascular system, the cambium layer, right 00:22:24.359 --> 00:22:26.839 under the bark with fluid, with water and sugars. 00:22:27.440 --> 00:22:29.440 So the tree is literally completely full of liquid. 00:22:29.599 --> 00:22:32.180 It is gorged with sap. And then punch two arrives. 00:22:32.299 --> 00:22:36.319 February 1895. A massive killer freeze. And because 00:22:36.319 --> 00:22:38.839 the trees were active and full of sap, the freezing 00:22:38.839 --> 00:22:40.920 temperatures literally split the bark from top 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:43.759 to bottom. It just exploded the trees. Essentially. 00:22:43.980 --> 00:22:47.059 The sap froze, expanded, as water does when it 00:22:47.059 --> 00:22:49.960 turns to ice, and it ruptured the trees. The 00:22:49.960 --> 00:22:52.980 result was total devastation. Citrus production 00:22:52.980 --> 00:22:55.339 in the state dropped from 6 million boxes to 00:22:55.339 --> 00:22:59.319 just 100 ,000. From 6 million to 100 ,000, that 00:22:59.319 --> 00:23:01.599 isn't a loss. That is an extinction event for 00:23:01.599 --> 00:23:04.339 an entire industry in that region. That is why 00:23:04.339 --> 00:23:06.920 the growers moved south. They realized North 00:23:06.920 --> 00:23:09.440 Florida was just too risky. They packed up and 00:23:09.440 --> 00:23:12.460 they moved to central and south Florida. The 00:23:12.460 --> 00:23:14.799 reason you drink orange juice from Groves and 00:23:14.799 --> 00:23:17.579 Polk or DeSoto counties today is because of that 00:23:17.579 --> 00:23:21.319 specific winter in 1895. It shifted the economic 00:23:21.319 --> 00:23:23.539 center of gravity of the entire state. And the 00:23:23.539 --> 00:23:25.480 records from that time, they still stand, don't 00:23:25.480 --> 00:23:28.259 they? They do. Orlando set its all -time record 00:23:28.259 --> 00:23:31.779 low of 18 degrees Fahrenheit in December 1894. 00:23:32.099 --> 00:23:34.299 We have not beaten that since. 18 degrees in 00:23:34.299 --> 00:23:36.180 Orlando, I can't even process that number. It 00:23:36.180 --> 00:23:38.519 puts this week's 30 degree weather into perspective, 00:23:38.680 --> 00:23:41.220 doesn't it? It's cold, but it's not 1895 gold. 00:23:41.579 --> 00:23:43.160 Thank goodness for that. But, you know, we don't 00:23:43.160 --> 00:23:45.279 always have to look back to black and white photos 00:23:45.279 --> 00:23:48.079 to find extreme weather. We have some very recent 00:23:48.079 --> 00:23:49.500 memories that I think are going to be triggered 00:23:49.500 --> 00:23:51.539 for our listeners this week. Absolutely. The 00:23:51.539 --> 00:23:53.319 climate is always active. There's always something. 00:23:53.599 --> 00:23:56.859 I'm thinking specifically about Christmas 2022. 00:23:57.359 --> 00:24:00.099 Oh, yes. The cold Christmas. Everyone remembers 00:24:00.099 --> 00:24:02.319 that. You were probably bundled up just opening 00:24:02.319 --> 00:24:04.759 presents in your living room. that was officially 00:24:04.759 --> 00:24:08.920 categorized as a significant Florida impact freeze. 00:24:09.539 --> 00:24:11.599 It was one of the coldest holidays on record 00:24:11.599 --> 00:24:14.539 for much of the state. And it's fresh in people's 00:24:14.539 --> 00:24:17.279 minds. It reminds us that these Arctic outbreaks 00:24:17.279 --> 00:24:20.200 are still very much a part of our modern climate. 00:24:20.759 --> 00:24:22.339 It wasn't that long ago we were shivering around 00:24:22.339 --> 00:24:25.289 the Christmas tree. And even more recently, and 00:24:25.289 --> 00:24:27.349 this one is truly wild, we have to talk about 00:24:27.349 --> 00:24:30.890 just last year, January 2025. Just one year ago, 00:24:31.150 --> 00:24:35.970 January 21st and 22nd, 2025. If 1977 was the 00:24:35.970 --> 00:24:38.789 snow in Miami headline, 2025 was the panhandle 00:24:38.789 --> 00:24:41.839 blizzard. It really was. We saw a historic winter 00:24:41.839 --> 00:24:44.420 storm track right along the Gulf of Mexico coast. 00:24:44.980 --> 00:24:47.680 But unlike the dry cold we were seeing this week 00:24:47.680 --> 00:24:51.680 in 2026, that 2025 storm had moisture wrapped 00:24:51.680 --> 00:24:53.680 into it. It tapped into the Gulf. It tapped into 00:24:53.680 --> 00:24:56.259 the Gulf of Mexico, yes. And the snowfall totals 00:24:56.259 --> 00:24:58.640 were, they were legitimate. This wasn't just 00:24:58.640 --> 00:25:01.150 flurries. They were significant. Tinscola Airport 00:25:01.150 --> 00:25:04.369 officially recorded 8 .9 inches of snow. Nearly 00:25:04.369 --> 00:25:06.829 9 inches of snow in Pensacola. That is a good 00:25:06.829 --> 00:25:09.829 winter storm in Chicago. Exactly. Escambia County 00:25:09.829 --> 00:25:13.069 saw up to 10 inches in some spots. And even Tallahassee, 00:25:13.130 --> 00:25:15.269 the state capital, got nearly 2 inches of snow. 00:25:15.549 --> 00:25:18.109 And that contrast is so important for understanding 00:25:18.109 --> 00:25:20.509 meteorology, isn't it? Last year, we had the 00:25:20.509 --> 00:25:22.950 cold and the moisture. This week, 2026, we had 00:25:22.950 --> 00:25:26.130 the cold. But the air is bone dry. That is the 00:25:26.130 --> 00:25:28.759 difference between a winter wonderland at a hard 00:25:28.759 --> 00:25:32.380 damaging freeze. Yeah. The snow in 2025 actually 00:25:32.380 --> 00:25:34.299 insulated some things. Oh, that's interesting. 00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:37.160 Snow is a great insulator because of all the 00:25:37.160 --> 00:25:40.440 air trapped between the flakes. The dry cold 00:25:40.440 --> 00:25:42.839 this week, it just desiccates everything. It 00:25:42.839 --> 00:25:45.380 zaps the life right out of the plant. So in some 00:25:45.380 --> 00:25:48.900 ways, this dry polled can be sneakier and more 00:25:48.900 --> 00:25:51.440 damaging to agriculture than a flashy snowstorm. 00:25:51.680 --> 00:25:53.720 It's the silent killer of the garden. It is. 00:25:53.779 --> 00:25:55.960 Absolutely. Before we wrap up, I want to zoom 00:25:55.960 --> 00:25:59.000 out for a minute. Because we Floridians can get 00:25:59.000 --> 00:26:01.980 a little self -centered with our weather. Chuckles. 00:26:02.380 --> 00:26:04.880 Just a little bit. We think 40 degrees is the 00:26:04.880 --> 00:26:07.279 apocalypse. But if we look at the national map 00:26:07.279 --> 00:26:09.559 right now, the context is really important. This 00:26:09.559 --> 00:26:11.680 is the be glad you were here section of the show. 00:26:11.880 --> 00:26:13.880 It really is. If you look at the weather prediction 00:26:13.880 --> 00:26:16.059 center outlook for this week, the rest of the 00:26:16.059 --> 00:26:19.059 country is dealing with some serious winter ferocity. 00:26:19.279 --> 00:26:21.319 So what are we seeing up north? The Northeast 00:26:21.319 --> 00:26:23.880 is currently getting hammered. There is a major 00:26:23.880 --> 00:26:26.420 winter storm exiting the region that is dropping 00:26:26.420 --> 00:26:30.819 heavy wet snow. We are talking 20 plus inches 00:26:30.819 --> 00:26:33.940 in parts of New England. 20 inches. So shoveling 00:26:33.940 --> 00:26:37.019 out your car for hours, power outages, travel 00:26:37.019 --> 00:26:39.900 nightmares, all of it. And then on the other 00:26:39.900 --> 00:26:42.140 side of the country, the Pacific Northwest is 00:26:42.140 --> 00:26:44.440 dealing with an atmospheric river. That sounds 00:26:44.440 --> 00:26:47.180 intense. It's a fire hose of moisture from the 00:26:47.180 --> 00:26:49.559 Pacific, and it's targeting Washington state 00:26:49.559 --> 00:26:52.180 with heavy rain and major flooding potential. 00:26:52.380 --> 00:26:54.680 And the middle of the country, the heartland. 00:26:54.940 --> 00:26:58.460 The interior, sub -zero temperatures. We are 00:26:58.460 --> 00:27:00.779 seeing actual air temperature readings below 00:27:00.779 --> 00:27:03.279 zero in the Ohio Valley and the Northern Plains. 00:27:03.500 --> 00:27:06.319 Not Windchill. Actual temperature. Actual air 00:27:06.319 --> 00:27:08.900 temperature. So when we are complaining about 00:27:08.900 --> 00:27:12.259 it being 36 degrees in Tampa... We are escaping 00:27:12.259 --> 00:27:15.599 the ice accumulations. We are escaping the shovels. 00:27:15.660 --> 00:27:17.819 We are escaping the sub -zero wind chills that 00:27:17.819 --> 00:27:21.039 cause frostbite in minutes. Florida is freezing 00:27:21.039 --> 00:27:23.160 by its own standards, but compared to the Mid 00:27:23.160 --> 00:27:25.240 -Atlantic and the Northeast, this week we're 00:27:25.240 --> 00:27:27.279 getting off easy. It is all about perspective, 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:29.740 isn't it? I'll take a sweater over a snow shovel 00:27:29.740 --> 00:27:31.660 any day of the week. I agree with you there. 00:27:31.740 --> 00:27:33.660 So what does this all mean for you listening 00:27:33.660 --> 00:27:36.539 right now? It means we are in for a week that 00:27:36.539 --> 00:27:39.200 is going to test our patience and our preparation. 00:27:39.859 --> 00:27:42.579 This is not a drill. The cold is here, and it 00:27:42.579 --> 00:27:45.339 is staying for dinner all week long. It is a 00:27:45.339 --> 00:27:48.619 time to be vigilant. Watch the fire danger with 00:27:48.619 --> 00:27:51.680 this dry air. Protect your pipes. Go out and 00:27:51.680 --> 00:27:53.819 wrap them up. Check on your neighbors, especially 00:27:53.819 --> 00:27:57.079 the elderly. And really respect the duration 00:27:57.079 --> 00:27:59.380 of this event. Don't let your guard down on Wednesday 00:27:59.380 --> 00:28:02.259 just because you survived Monday night. And hey, 00:28:02.519 --> 00:28:04.359 document it. I want to know what your backyard 00:28:04.359 --> 00:28:06.599 thermometer says. Take a picture, screenshot 00:28:06.599 --> 00:28:08.539 your weather app. This is weather history in 00:28:08.539 --> 00:28:10.599 the making, even if it's just a really cold week 00:28:10.599 --> 00:28:13.480 for us. It's data. Yeah. And we love data. We 00:28:13.480 --> 00:28:15.420 do love data. And if you want to keep up with 00:28:15.420 --> 00:28:17.440 the play -by -play of this cold snap, you can 00:28:17.440 --> 00:28:19.980 follow meteorologist Rob Jones on Instagram at 00:28:20.470 --> 00:28:22.769 Meteorologist. That's simple, easy to remember. 00:28:22.930 --> 00:28:26.549 Very. On TikTok, it's TV Meteorologist. And for 00:28:26.549 --> 00:28:28.970 more deep dives just like this one, you can check 00:28:28.970 --> 00:28:31.589 out the Meteorology Matters playlist on the Rob 00:28:31.589 --> 00:28:34.869 Jones Hurricane YouTube channel. And please like, 00:28:34.930 --> 00:28:36.970 follow and rate the show wherever you're listening. 00:28:37.170 --> 00:28:38.990 It really helps us keep bringing you these stories. 00:28:39.210 --> 00:28:41.569 And it helps us justify geeking out over 19th 00:28:41.569 --> 00:28:44.509 century citrus farming biology. Exactly. We need 00:28:44.509 --> 00:28:48.079 you to validate our obsession. You've been listening 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:50.299 to Meteorology Matters, created by meteorologist 00:28:50.299 --> 00:28:53.279 Rob Jones. Thanks for listening, and remember, 00:28:53.759 --> 00:28:54.960 meteorology always matters.