Hurricane Zeta has weakened to a tropical storm, it’s racing northeastward and the impact on Jacksonville’s weather will seem rather dramatic. Drier, read into that, less humid conditions will finally move into northeast Florida (and South Georgia, too).
It comes with one last fling of record breaking heat (and humidity) as today will be the hottest morning, afternoon and day until sometime later next spring. Thursday morning’s low was only 76°, making it the warmest Oct. 29 morning in Jacksonville’s 150 years of record keeping. This is actually a bigger deal, as for a period of time Jacksonville’s daily records will taken downtown (near the St. Johns River) for years. The river’s impact would have been to elevate morning temperatures. Later Thursday, record afternoon high of 90° is expected, breaking the old record by 3° (87° back in 1984).
Recommended Videos
➡️ Share your weather questions with us — and we’ll answer them in this newsletter
With all that heat, the humidity has been the big story.
Morning low temperatures this month have been an even bigger story. Morning low temperatures are a great proxy to knowing just how humid the overall pattern has been. Why? As nights become longer and longer, the ability for the atmosphere (and the ground) to radiate heat away is more easily done. But there is only so much cooling that can take place, and that is determined by the dew point (measure of moisture in the atmosphere).
This October has seen some remarkably steamy mornings, mornings that would be far more like August. During an 11-day stretch, at the end of month no less, the average morning low was 70° — not unlike June.
| Date | Afternoon High | Sunrise Low | Afternoon High Departure from normal | Morning Low Departure from normal |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct. 1 | 82 | 54 | -2 | -12 |
| Oct. 2 | 79 | 61 | -5 | -4 |
| Oct. 3 | 76 | 61 | -8 | -4 |
| Oct. 4 | 70 | 63 | -14 | -2 |
| Oct. 5 | 73 | 65 | -10 | 1 |
| Oct. 6 | 83 | 72 | 0 | 8 |
| Oct. 7 | 85 | 71 | 2 | 7 |
| Oct. 8 | 88 | 70 | 5 | 7 |
| Oct. 9 | 84 | 72 | 2 | 9 |
| Oct. 10 | 88 | 73 | 6 | 10 |
| Oct. 11 | 89 | 72 | 7 | 9 |
| Oct. 12 | 86 | 68 | 4 | 6 |
| Oct. 13 | 89 | 65 | 7 | 3 |
| Oct. 14 | 87 | 68 | 6 | 6 |
| Oct. 15 | 85 | 68 | 4 | 7 |
| Oct. 16 | 88 | 67 | 7 | 6 |
| Oct. 17 | 77 | 57 | =4 | -4 |
| Oct. 18 | 82 | 60 | 1 | 0 |
| Oct. 19 | 79 | 70 | -1 | 10 |
| Oct. 20 | 81 | 71 | 1 | 11 |
| Oct. 21 | 83 | 71 | 3 | 12 |
| Oct. 22 | 84 | 71 | 4 | 12 |
| Oct. 23 | 83 | 68 | 3 | 10 |
| Oct. 24 | 84 | 65 | 5 | 8 |
| Oct. 25 | 88 | 68 | 9 | 11 |
| Oct. 26 | 84 | 67 | 5 | 10 |
| Oct. 27 | 84 | 72 | 5 | 16 |
| Oct. 28 | 86 | 70 | 8 | 14 |
| Oct. 29 | 90 | 76 | 12 | 20 |
| Oct. 30 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Oct. 31 | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
| Sum | 2417 | 1956 | +2.2 | +6.4 |
| Average | 83.3 | 67.4 | ||
| Normal | 80.7 | 61 |
Why all the heat and humidity? Blame it on the tropics.
This was my 10-day forecast from Oct. 16-23. Zeta not only formed but then went on a tear from Louisiana to North Carolina.
The good news is, at least temporarily, we will now see Canadian dry air push the deep tropical air further south into the Southern Caribbean Sea. Although it may not be enough to stop additional tropical cyclones, tropical cyclone Eta is expected to form by Monday, but there’s enough dry air to lower our humidity and early morning low temperatures. Yep, we could see widespread 40s by Tuesday.
When does the rainy season end? 🌧️
If you’ve been looking to get a new roof, or maybe you just want to repaint the house, the next few months are looking pretty ideal. That’s because they’ll be some of the driest we’ll see in northeast Florida. Find out why that is the case and when we typically see our wettest weather. Here’s a hint: it’s already come and gone.
How prone to droughts is Florida? 🔥
When you think of the word drought, chances are your mind wanders to the western United States. But that’s not always true. The Drought Vulnerability Index from Climate Central measures how susceptible to drought individual states are. Check out which factors influence these ratings and how Florida stacks up.
Water found on the moon’s surface? 🌑
At some point or another, you’ve probably heard the moon is made of cheese. And while that’s not true, NASA recently confirmed for the first time that there is water on the sunlit surface of the moon. Rebecca Barry shares how this recent discovery was made — and what it means and doesn’t mean to us.
Your weekend haircast 👱♀️
No matter what your plans are this weekend, we want to make sure you look and feel your best. So if you’re planning to be outside, Sunday looks like it’ll be less of a wrestling match with your locks than Saturday.
P.S. Don’t forget to fall back ⏰
Speaking of the weekend, we wanted to remind you that Daylight Saving Time comes to an end this weekend. So don’t forget to set your clocks back before going to bed Saturday night. Otherwise, you might be more than a little thrown off when you wake up and hop out of bed Sunday morning. Here’s to an extra hour of sleep!
Pin of the Week 📷
This week’s Pin comes from Shawn — thanks for sharing! Want to see your photos featured in this newsletter or during one of our forecasts? Download the News4Jax Weather Authority App (Apple, Google) or login to your Insider profile and upload your pics to StormPins. We just added elections 🗳️ & Halloween 🎃 Pins, so be sure to share your civic pride when you head out to vote or whatever spooky decorations you see in town.
New to Insider? 🤔
Getting acquainted with Insider? We can help:
About this newsletter
You are receiving this email either because you signed up or you were a subscriber to another News4Jax newsletter. We hope you find it useful. If you decide you’re getting too much email and don’t need this one, there’s a link below to manage which newsletters you receive. ⬇️