Climate of Florida

Introduction

This publication consists of a narrative that descri bes some of the principal climatic features and a number of climatological summaries for stations in various geographic regions of the State. The detailed information presented should be sufficient for general use; however, some users may require additional information.

The National Climatic Data Center (NCDC) located in Asheville, North Carolina is authorized to perform special services for othe r government agencies and for pr ivate clients at the expense of the requester. The amount charged in all cases is intended to solely defray the expenses incurred by the government in satisfying such sp ecific requests to the best of its ability. It is essential that requesters furnish the NCDC with a precise statement describing the problem so that a mutual understanding of the specifi cations is reached.

Unpublished climatological summaries have been pr epared for a wide vari ety of users to fit specific applications. These include wind and temperature studies at airports, heating and cooling degree day information for energy studies, and many others. Tabulations produced as by-products of major products often contain information useful for unrelated special problems.

The Means and Extremes of meteorological vari ables in the Climatography of the U.S. No.20 series are recorded by observers in the cooperati ve network. The Normals, Means and Extremes in the Local Climatological Data , annuals are computed from observations taken primarily at airports.

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TDD: 828-271-4010Climate of Florida

Physical Features- Most of Florida consists of a low, 400 mile long peninsula, part of the nation’s southeastern coastal plain which runs from Texas to Virginia. Although the highest elevation in Florida is only 345 f eet above sea level, there is c onsiderable local relief along its border with Alabama and southwestern Georgia, as well as along the spin e of the peninsula. Within these two hill regions there are many places wh ere, within a square mile, there is as much as a 150 to 200 feet difference between the highes t and lowest elevation. The surface of most of the State is covered by infertile sand or loam, often with a hardpa n layer beneath which restricts water absorption. The surface sands and loams rest upon a thick layer of soluble limestone that has been greatly eroded. Within much of the State, numerous limestone features such as sinkholes, underground rivers, and large volume spri ngs may be found. In volume of discharge, Florida has some of the nation’s largest springs . Also, within its limestone foundation are found several large aquifers, the most im portant of which is the Floridan, said to contain as much water as the entire Great Lakes system . Unfortunately, the water in the aquifer becomes saline under the southern half of the peninsula and is of little economic value.

Lakes, both large and small, are scattered throughout the State and are especially concentrated in the Orlando area. The State’s larg est, Lake Okeechobee, is also th e largest lake entirely within one state. The origin of Lake Okeechobee is in dispute, but most believe that it was formed in recent geological history beneath a shallow sea.

Florida has rivers, but because of its peninsular shape, except for the St. Johns, most are short. Many are subterranean for part of their course. Since much of the peninsula is flat, floodplains of these rivers often are very broad and swampy. North Florida ri vers flow out of Alabama and Georgia. The volume of discharg e of the Apalachicola is among the greatest of any that enter the ocean east of the Mississippi River. The southe rn one-third of the peninsula is both low and almost completely flat. A large portion is made up of the Everglades, th e so-called “River of

Grass”.

In an effort to popularize its tourist industry, Fl orida was named “The Sunshine State”. However, the arid part of the western United States has many more hours of sunshine during the year than Florida. During the winter, however, Florida has approximately double the amount of hours of sunlight than the states in the northeastern quad rant of the nation, and far milder temperatures. Mild and sunny winters are Florid a’s greatest physical asset, and without these weather elements

it would be far less attractive to visitors and individuals reloca ting. Its agriculture is heavily based on winter warmth, and it supplies not only citrus, but also winter vegetables.

Most of the State lies within th e extreme southern portion of th e Northern Hemisphere’s humid subtropical climate zone, noted for its long hot and humid summers and mild and wet winters. The southernmost portion of the State is genera lly designated as belong ing to the tropical savanna region, a climate that it shares with most of the Cari bbean islands. Sometimes also called the wet and dry tropics, tropical savanna precipitation is highly concentrated in the

- 1 -warmer months. The chief factors that govern Florida’s climate are la titude, land and water distribution, prevailing winds, storms, pressure systems and ocean currents. Although no place in Florida is far from sea level, during the winter altitude can be a significant local factor in affecting temperature. Early grov e owners quickly learned that th e citrus trees they planted in depressions were much more susceptible to freezes than those plan ted on higher ground.

Temperature- Mean temperatures during Florida’ s coldest month (January ) range from the lower 50s in the north to the upper 60s in the south. In the hottest month (usua lly July, but in places August) it is almost the same throughout the enti re State, between 81 a nd 83 degrees Fahrenheit (° F). Every day of the year the sun reaches Florida at a higher angle than farther north, and consequently its power to heat is greater. Fo r example, in New York City during January the rays of the sun reach a maximum angle during the day of about 26 degrees above the horizon, while in Miami the angle is about 40 degrees. The sun’s rays at thei r highest, around June 21 st

, strike New York at about a 65° angle, while in Miami the sun is almost directly overhead.

In the winter, maximum temper atures throughout Florida are ba lmy compared with those of northern states. The mean maximum temperature in northern Florida during January is about 65 while south of Lake Okeechobee it is approximately 76° F. Even in north ern Florida between December and February on average the da ily maximum temperature rises above 75° F between 20 and 30 percent of the time and south of Lake Okeechobee the percentage exceeds 75 percent. Large water bodies, particularly the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, but to a lesser degree large lakes like Okeechobee and Apopka, are the major modifiers of the State’s temperature during all seasons, but particularly in the winter. Maximum temperatures in the winter on the peninsula, particularly the southern half, tend to be slightly highe r on the Atlantic than the Gulf Coast, in part because on the eas t coast winds come off of the Atlantic and pass over the relatively warm Gulf St ream. Winter prevailing winds on the west coast are from the land, which is often cooler at that time of year than the wa ter of the Gulf of Mexico.

Average maximum temperatures in the State begin to reach into the upper 80s in April, first in the interior of the peninsula. From there, thes e high temperatures spread out towards the coasts. The spatial advance of the “Dog Days of Summer” is retarded near the coast by sea breezes, which are most powerful during the summer. Average maximum temper atures rise above 88° F on the west coast during May and along most of th e east coast in June. At times, helped by the easterly trade winds, sea breezes can reach mo re than 25 miles into the interior.

Miami-Dade County provides an excellent example of how the ocean, and specifically the sea breeze, modifies temperature. There are three weat her stations close to e ach other; Miami Beach which is on the shore, Miami International Airport that is eight miles in the interior, and 40-Mile Bend, about 40 miles from the coast. The eight miles between Miami Beach and Miami International makes a significant differen ce in both average maximum and minimum temperatures. Throughout the year, maximum temper atures are at least tw o degrees higher at the airport, slightly more in the summer than the winter. Minimum temperatures are two to three degrees higher at the Miami Beach station than th at at the airport during the colder months, but only one degree higher during the warmer mont hs. 40-Mile Bend’s ma ximum temperature is higher than that of the airpor t in all months, and the minimum temperatures is lower.

- 2 -Florida’s summer high temperatures can be extr emely enervating, although air conditioning has made life more bearable. In an average y ear, Florida experiences far fewer days when temperatures reach above 100° F than in most other states. Howe ver, due to the fact that Florida is among the wettest states in the nation and its atmosphere is so humid, its summers are among the most uncomfortable. When humidity is high, evaporation of perspira tion from the skin is inhibited, and one feels hotter than if humidity were lower. In Florida, during the warmest time of the day, relative humidity throughout the Stat e averages in the 50 and 60 percent range. During the cooler hours it is higher, in the 70 and 80 percent range. The heat index, sometimes called the sensible temperature, takes into account both relative humidity and actual temperature. During the height of the summer, when most of th e time the temperature is in the low 90s in midafternoon, it feels about 10° F higher than the actual temperatur e. Fortunately the difference between the actual and sensible temperature de clines rapidly with a drop in the actual temperature and is negligible below 80° F. Consequently, except in the summer, humidity is not a major inconvenience. Compared to the northern states, during the year Fl orida has a far greater number of days where the maximum temperature falls within the comfort range of between 70

and 85° F. In the northern part of the State the number of days between 70 and 85 is between 125 and 150 days, and it rises a bove 200 days in the Tampa Ba y area and along the Atlantic

Coast from Melbourne southward. In the interi or of the peninsula, it is between 175 and 200 days.

During the winter North Florida is occasionally i nvaded by massive cold fronts that originate far to the north. Although the temper ature within these air masses ri ses significantly during their passage to Florida, they are capab le of bringing intense cold to the State. The State’s record minimum temperature was set in February 1899 when Tallahassee experienced -2° F. Once cold waves move onto the peninsula the relatively wa rm waters of the Atlantic and the Gulf of Mexico exert their influence, and the airmass’ te mperature rises. Nonetheless, temperatures in the low 20s have been experienced in the Ever glades south of Lake Okeechobee. Not a year goes by when there is not some damage to the citr us or vegetable crop somewhere in the State.

Severe freezes in the 19 th and 20 th centuries gradually drove th e center of citrus production

southward from the Orlando area to southern Polk County. Winter vegetable growers have long concentrated their production south of Lake Okeechob ee, where they gamble each year that their crop will be spared a severe blow from freezes.

Precipitation- Florida is only exceeded by Louisian a as the wettest state in the nation. On average, approximately 54 inches of precipitation falls on the State each year, one inch less than in Louisiana. Although snow falls periodically in Florida, and in North Florida, on exceedingly rare occasions, has accumulated to a depth of seve ral inches, almost all precipitation is in the

form of rain. Most of the rain that falls on Fl orida is convective. A lthough it is often assumed that there are many more days of precipitation in Florida than in st ates farther north, this is not true. Throughout most of the stat es east of the Mississipp i River, including Florida, a tenth of an inch or more of precipitation falls on 70 to 80 days in an average year. Actually in Florida during an average year, rain is falling about 10 percent of the time, while around the Great Lakes it is around 20 percent. It is in the intensity of its pr ecipitation that Florida differs from states farther north. Of the days in Florida when th ere is measurable precip itation, between 30 and 35 percent have accumulations of half an inch or more, compared with 15 to 25 percent in states

north of the Ohio River.

- 3 -The Panhandle and southeastern Florida are the wettest parts of the State. The driest portions are the Florida Keys and the offshore bar of Cape Ca naveral. The Panhandle r eceives so much rain because it has two wet seasons, one during the wint er when fronts pass through bringing rain, the other in the summer, when convective rain falls. Frontal precipitati on plays an increasingly smaller role in annual precipitation the farther so uth one goes down the peninsula. While half of the Panhandle precipitation occurs during the hot months between May and August, in Central

Florida the share rises to between 60 and 65 percent. In the Keys and the extreme southwestern peninsula it rises to over 70 percen t. Coastal locations, including the Keys, receive less rain than those nearby but farther in the interior because they do not provide as good an environment for convectional heating.

The Azores-Bermuda High Pressure system exerts a powerful influence on peninsular Florida’s weather during the winter. Within high pressure systems air is subsiding, and as a consequence precipitation cannot take place. The Azores-B ermuda High remains over the Sahara Desert throughout the year, but extends over Florida during the winter. As the water around the State warms in the spring, the high-pressure system over Florida weakens and the summer rains begin. Some years the influence of the Azores-Bermuda High is greater than in others, so even in extremely South Florida rain may fall during the winter.

The State’s summer rainy season normally first begins in southeastern Florida in late April and then moves northward. However, it can be delaye d in all or part of the State by the prolonged presence of the Azores-Bermuda High, or a high-pr essure system that moves in from the Gulf of Mexico. The fall dry season begins in North Florida in September, and spreads southward, arriving in extreme South Florida in mid-November. Of course tr opical storms can postpone the arrival of the dry season. Frontal rain normally begins to fall in North Florida in early November, and seldom occurs after mid-April. South of Orlando, frontal rain of the type experienced in North Florida is rare.

Summer rain is generally in the form of local thunderstorms, or thunderstorms that form in long squall lines created when hot humid air from the Atlantic Ocean converges with equally hot and

humid air from the Gulf of Mexico. Whatever the cause of this conve ctive activity, thunder clouds form during the morning, and brief but he avy periods of rain usually follow during the

afternoon. Since summer rain in Florida is so dependent upon air being heated by the earth’s surface, a large share of the rain occurs during the daylight hours, especially in the afternoon. Florida, especially in the cen ter of the State, experiences around 85 thunderstorms each year. The State usually leads the nation in lightning deaths due to the la rge number of people involved in outdoor activities such as swimming, boating and golfing.

A surprisingly large share of Florida’s precipita tion falls during periods of torrential rain, which

here is defined as 3 inches or more within a 24 -hour period. For nearly 29 years Florida held the national record for the greatest amount of rain to fall during a 24-hour pe riod. On September 5, 1950 a hurricane drowned the village of Yankeetown, on the Big Bend coast, with 38.7 inches of

rainfall. It held the record until 1979 when re mnants of tropical storm Claudette dropped 43 inches of rain on Alvin, Texas in a 24-hour period. Most of these storms arrive from either the Atlantic or the Gulf of Mexico, and consequently the coasts receive a far larger share of their

- 4 -annual precipitation from these storms than does th e interior. On the Panhandle coast and in the Keys it is around 17 percent, but in the center of the State it falls to around five to eight percent.

Florida weather stations experience enormous variation in their annual as well as monthly precipitation. It is not uncomm on for stations in some years to have half or double their normal monthly precipitation, and the variation beco mes even greater when a station’s monthly precipitation is compared over a long period. This is most true of the winter months in South Florida, which is normally dry, but may experience tropical disturbances even during the height of its dry season.

On an average day, Florida receives about 150 billi on gallons of rainwater, as well as 25 billion gallons from rivers leaving Georgia and Alabama. It must be remembered, however, that Florida has a warm climate, and on an average day about 100 billion gallons of water evaporate from the State’s surface or are transpired by plants into the atmosphere. The precipitation balance is delicate, and drought is not infrequent. Fortuna tely, the State has vast reserves of underground water stored in aquifers, which in normal years is adequate for urban as well as agricultural use. Nonetheless, in South Florida, during prolonge d dry periods, the wa ter withdrawn greatly exceeds that which is added, causing the water table to fall to alarmingly low levels and necessitating the implementation of water conser vation regulations. Periodically the State has entertained building a pipeline fr om lightly populated North Florid a, where water is abundant, to South Florida, but environmental issues have prevented its construction. Presently a number of desalination plants have been built between Tampa and the Keys to lessen the burden on local underground water supplies.

Meteorologists have examined the relationshi p between Florida climate and ENSO (El NiñoSouthern Oscillation). ENSO is a physical phe nomenon that occurs in the equatorial Pacific Ocean where the water temperature oscillates between being unusually warm (El Niño) and unusually cold (La Niña). El Niño and La Niña are among the strongest driv ers of the climate of North America, with impacts that vary across different regions. These oceanic events shift the position of the jet streams across the continent, whic h act to steer the fronts and weather systems. Change the predominant tracks of the weather systems, and you ch ange the resulting long-term weather. Because the jet st reams are strongest in winter months, the temperature and precipitation shifts are also mo re pronounced in the cold season. The Southeast United States experiences particularly strong long-term weather shifts, with Florida feeling the greatest impacts. El Niño typically brings 30 to 40 perc ent more rainfall and cooler temperatures to Florida in the winter, while La Niña brings a warmer and much drier than normal winter and spring. La Niña is frequently a tr igger to periodic drought in Florida.

The resulting jet stream patterns from El Niño and La Ni ña also act to suppress damaging freezes. During El Niño, a strong su btropical jet tends to block the intrusions of arctic air that bring exceptionally cold temperat ures. La Niña sets up a diff erent jet stream pattern, which

tends to steer the colder air to the north. The thr eat of severe freezes is highest, up to three times more likely, when neither El Niño nor La Niña is affecting the weather.

In general, El Niño (warmer than normal waters in the tropical Pacific) is a “good dude” for Florida. In addition to bringi ng beneficial winter rainfall and suppressing damaging freezes, it

- 5 -also lessens the severity of th e Hurricane Season. It has now been shown conclusively that El Niño suppresses the formation of hurricanes a nd tropical storms by cr eating an environment unfavorable for development due to wind shear. Most tropical storms and hurrica nes that have the potential of reaching the United States originate in the Gulf of Mexico, Caribbean Sea or the Atlantic Ocean a few degrees north of the equator. Both tropical storms and hurricanes ar e strong tropical low-pressure systems. When the sustained wind velocity in a tropical system rise s above 73 miles per hour, it is reclassified from a tropical storm to a hurricane. Being a peninsula, the length of Fl orida’s coastline is nearly as long as the combined coastlines of all the other stat es from Virginia to Texas. Consequently, it is not surprising that more tropical systems of a ll kinds have made their first landfall here. Between 1901 and 2002, 86 hurricanes and 73 tropical storms entered Florida. During some decades conditions are more conducive for tropical storm and hurricane development than in

others. Hurricanes are classified by intensity, category one being the weakest, category five the strongest. Hurricanes gain their strength from warm water. At the beginning and end of the

hurricane season those hurricanes th at have reached Florida have been relatively weak. In September, the height of the hurricane season, most of the more powerful hurricanes have

formed and left the Atlantic. Until satellites could monitor their development, it was difficult to ascertain where hurricanes first developed. It appear s that slightly more originate in the Atlantic

than the Caribbean or Gulf of Mexico.

The probability of tropical storms reaching a specifi c part of the Florida coastline varies little, but there is great variation in the arrival of hurricanes. The northwester n coast has experienced the most, closely followed by that of the southeas t and the southwest. Very few hurricanes have

entered Florida between Melbourne and Jacksonville. Actually Jacksonville has only sustained a direct hit by one hurricane, Dora in 1964. Several, however, ha ve passed it by just offshore.

Both tropical storms and hurricanes, if they pass over highly populated areas, are capable of producing many fatalities and enormous property damage. The hurri cane that caused the highest

number of deaths entered the State at West Palm Beach in September 1928 and passed over Lake

Okeechobee. It released so much rain over the lake that the primitive dike that was built on the southern shore to protect an agricultural area behind it burst. The flood that followed killed approximately 1,800 people, mostly migrant farm wo rkers. On Labor Day 1935, what is still the most powerful hurricane in the na tion’s weather history passed over the northern Keys. As a

result of a lack of coordination in the State’ s then primitive warning system, approximately 400 people lost their lives. Florid a learned a lesson from that Labor Day hurricane, and began to appropriate money for a better warning system. Since then fatalities from hurricanes have been greatly reduced.

In terms of property damage, the second most cos tly natural disaster in the nation’s history was Hurricane Andrew that passed over southern Mi ami-Dade County in August, 1992. Like the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, it was a Category 5, but unlike the Labor Day hurricane it passed over a densely populated area. Property damage exceeded $35 dollars, but because of early warnings and evacuation efforts the number of deaths directly relate d to the storm was around

50. One of the few benefits of the storm was th at it motivated the State government to demand stricter compliance of existi ng building codes, and to enac t even more stringent ones.

- 6 -Florida experiences more tornadoes per 10,000 squa re miles than any state in the nation, even exceeding the density of Oklahoma, infamous fo r its tornadoes. Fortunately most Florida

tornadoes are much lower in inte nsity than those on th e Great Plains. Many are waterspouts that generally are both small and weak, although th ere have been some large and powerful exceptions. The highest incidence of tornado d eaths and injuries in Florida has occurred between Tampa and Daytona Beach. In 1966 an d 1998, supercell thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes entered Florida in St. Petersburg, and crossed the State, exiti ng near Daytona Beach. Twelve people were killed in 1966 while 42 we re killed by the 1998 storm. Property damage during both episodes was enormous.

In North and Central Florida, winter fog can cau se transportation problems especially late at night or early in the morning. In that season, re latively warm and moist air may drift in from the

Gulf of Mexico or the Atlantic Ocean and settle over cooler la nd. The air near the land surface may be chilled to the dew point, and an adiabatic fog then develops. Most of the time, the fog dissipates by mid-morning. On the southern half of the peninsula, fog is rare at any time of the

year.

Florida does not suffer the degree of atmospheric pollution that is experienced in California nor in those states with heavy industry. It has neith er the topographic nor the climatic conditions that trap automobile emissions over California ci ties, and causes the infamous smog. Nor does Florida have the type of manufact uring that produces pollution in th e industrialized portion of the nation, including cities like Houst on, along the Gulf of Mexico. The only part of the State where atmospheric pollution is an issue is in the Tamp a Bay area, where much of its electricity is produced from coal-fired generators. These genera tors are presently being either modified to burn coal more efficiently, or bei ng replaced with generators that use natural gas. The State is

not downwind from factories in ot her states that contribute acid rain bearing-particles to the atmosphere, and as a consequence its lakes and forests are relatively fr ee of that source of pollution.

Florida does have a pollen seas on. Oak pollen can be especially prevalent. There are many other plants, both native and e xotic, which may cause allergic reactions among some people, but the problem is no worse than in most other stat es. Fortunately, ragweed is only a minor problem, especially in South Florida.

Climate and the Economy- Since Florida is widely regarded as the “Sunshine State”, many have come to regard its climate as being highly suit able for the production of energy. Unfortunately, this is not true. Whereas solar energy is be ing converted by solar concentrators and collectors into electricity for commercial distribution in the nation’s dry southwes t, long periods of cloud cover over Florida presently make this technolog y commercially infeasible. The most suitable location in Florida for an array of these solar concentrators w ould be between Miami-Dade and Palm Beach counties. Yet a 200-acre array of concentrators would produce enough energy to meet the demands of about 3,833 homes, compared to approximately 6,700 homes in southern Arizona and California using the same area. Th e home use of solar co llectors to heat water directly from the sun was fairly common in So uth Florida until after World War II, when fossil fuels became so cheap that they fell out of favor . The rising cost of energy has renewed interest

- 7 -in this use of the sun’s energy, and solar collectors have grown in popularity, especially for use in heat swimming pools during the winter.

Florida’s long coastline might appear to be attr active for the location of wind farms, arrays of propeller driven turbines to generate electr icity. Although they have become increasingly

common near the California coast and on the Grea t Plains, neither Florida’s prevailing trade winds nor the daily land-sea breezes are of sufficien t velocity to warrant the investment in this renewable energy resource.

Until 1950 Florida had the smallest population of any southern state, in part because of its climate. Its heat and humidity not only were difficult to endure, but until the end of the 19 th
century they were dangerous to live in, sin ce epidemics of yellow fever and malaria were common. When it was incorporated into the United States, for the few who could afford a winter vacation it became a great place to visit, but when spring arrived they returned north. Those who did try to make a living there were in a cons tant struggle with the elements, including the weather, to make a success.

By the early 20 th century, diseases had been brou ght under control and by the 1950s the widespread use of air conditioners, first in hom es and businesses, later in vehicles, made

summers more bearable for the residents. Summe r tourism grew to surpass that of winter, and has provided many economic opportunities. Millions of retirees have chos en Florida as their new home, and the availability of air conditioning was certainly an important factor in their

decision to come. The demands of these retir ees for both goods and services have attracted millions more persons.

Some would argue that taming Florida’s brutal summers comes at an excessively high use of energy. Whereas the use of energy is high, it is actually less than that paid by people in the North to maintain a comfortable temperature with in their buildings during the winter. Measured in heating and cooling degree-day s, a statistic used to calculate the cost of maintaining a comfortable temperature within a building, a typical peninsular Florida community averages between 3,000 and 4,000 cooling and 250 to 1,000 heati ng degree-days in an average year. In

the lower Great Lakes area t ypically there are between 6,000 and 7,000 heating and 750 to 1,200 cooling degree-days.

Farmers have learned to produce more efficiently within Florida’s climate. Grove owners, who first planted their trees too far north to escap e the rare but truly de vastating freezes, have

concentrated much farther south. Those who re main in areas where freezes are common have planted species that bear fruit early, before most freezes occur. Winter vegetable farmers have adopted various means to prevent their plants from being damaged by freezes. Through use of chemicals, they are able to control the many pests that thrive in the Stat e’s heat and humidity.

Technology has made Florida’s summers more hosp itable to both visit an d to live in, and its winters more agriculturally productive. Th e taming of its summers ignited a population explosion that continues. On average, 1,000 pe ople move to Florida each day. Today the State not only has the largest population in the South, but it has become the fourth largest in the nation, and has every expectation in the future to rank even higher.

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Pielke, Roger A. et al. (1991) “The Predic tability of Sea-Breeze Generated Thunderstorms.” Atmosphera. 4:65-78.

------- et al. (1999) “The Infl uence of Anthropogenic Landscape Changes on Weather in South

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Provenzo, Eugene F. (Jr.) and Asterie Baker Provenzo (2002) In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Rappaport, Ed (1993) Preliminary Report: Hurricane Andrew 16-28 August, 1992

. Miami:National Hurricane Center.

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Florida Rainfall." Monthly Weather Review. 107:1535-1545.

Schwartz, Glenn E. (1977) 'The Da y it Snowed in Mi ami." Weatherwise

30:50. 95.

Tannehill, Ivan Ray (1950) Hurricanes: Their Nature and History. Particularly Those of the West Indies and the Southern Coasts of the United States

. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Uman, Martin (1987) The Lightning Discharge . Orlando Fla: Academic

Press.

- 11 -U.S. Department of Commerce (2002) Local Climatological Data 2001, Annual . Washington,

DC: NOAA.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1997) Climate Change and Florida . Washington,D.C. EPA 230-F-97-008i (available on the Internet).

Unisys (2002) Atlantic Tropical Storm Tracking by Ye ar. www.weather.unisys.com/ hurricane/atlantic/

USPIRG (2002 ) Danger in the Air, August 2002 . //uspirg.org/reports /dangerintheair2002

Waller, Bradley G. (1985) Drought of 1980-82 in Southeast Florida with Comparison to the 1961-62 and 1970-71 Droughts . Tallahassee, Fla.: U.S. Geological Survey Water Res ource Investigation Report 85-4152.

Weeks, Jerry Woods (1977) Florida Gold: The Emergence of the Florida Citrus Industry 1865-1895. Ann Arbor. MI.: University Microfilms.

Williams, Dansy T. (1974) "Predicting the Atlantic Sea Breeze in the Southeast States."

Weatherwise . 27: 106-109.

Williams, Jack (1985) " Tough Decisions: Calling th e Weather Shots for the Space Shuttle .” Weatherwise. 38:240-247.

Williams, John M. and Iver W. Duedall (2002) Florida Hurricanes and Tropical Storms

. Gainesville: University Press of Florida.

Woods, Richard (1985) "A Dangerous Family: The Thunderstorm and Its Offsprings.” Weatherwise. 38: 131-135.

Files of newspapers have been of great help, in particular those of the Miami Herald, Orlando Sentinel, St. Petersburg Times, and Tampa Tribune.

The Web Pages of the National Oceanic and At mospheric Administration, National Climatic Data Center, and the Southeastern Regional Clim ate Center provided most of the climatological

data.

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