Florida Experiences Their Coldest Outbreak In 15 Years As Northeast Freezing Streak Tops 1 Week Straight
Florida Experiences Their Coldest Outbreak In 15 Years As Northeast Freezing Streak Tops 1 Week Straight
Jennifer Gray Mon, February 2, 2026 at 10:32 PM UTC
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Another arctic blast of cold plunged all the way down to the Gulf Coast over the weekend, including Florida, which is experiencing its coldest stretch in at least 15 years, and prolongs one of the longest subfreezing stretches in several years in parts of the Northeast.
This cold even brought some flurries around Tallahassee on Saturday.
This latest cold front surged southward on the backside of Winter Storm Gianna as it hammered parts of the East with snow, winds and coastal flooding.
(CURRENT MAPS: Temperatures | Wind Chills)
Florida's Not A Winter Escape
Our apologies go out to both residents and "snowbirds" flocking to the Sunshine State to escape the winter cold and snow elsewhere.
This won't be a winter escape for at least another day.
This air came from the Canadian Arctic, about 4,000 miles away from South Florida.
Numerous daily and monthly record cold temperatures were broken on Sunday, and more are expected to fall statewide on Monday.
- Lows Monday morning will drop in the mid-20s as far south as Vero Beach, which will be the second morning in a row a damaging hard freeze will be in place. The last time Orlando was 25 degrees or colder was Dec. 29, 2010. This will be a long-duration hard freeze for the citrus and berry crops across the Interstate 4 corridor.
- Lows across much of South Florida will also plunge into the low to mid-30s again Monday morning. Miami International Airport last recorded a low of 35 degrees or colder on Jan. 10, 2010.
However, temperatures will slowly climb during the next few days.
- With stiff northwest winds coming off the Florida Peninsula, wind chills Sunday fell as low as the single digits and teens in northern and central Florida, with 20s in South Florida.
Record Cold In Florida
Here are a few of the records in Florida from Sunday morning:
-Daytona - 23 degrees. This breaks the daily record low and the all-time February low temp.
-Melbourne - 25 degrees. This breaks the daily record low and the all-time February low temp.
-Vero Beach - 26 degrees. This breaks the daily record low and the all-time February low temp.
-Leesburg - 23 degrees. This breaks the daily record low and the all-time February low temp.
-Sanford - 23 degrees. This breaks the daily record low and the all-time February low temp.
-Orlando - 24 degrees. This breaks the daily record.
-Ft. Pierce - 26 degrees. This breaks the daily record.
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-Miami - 35. This breaks the daily record.
-West Palm Beach - 31. This breaks the daily record.
Southeast Record Cold, Too
If Florida shivers, it means the rest of the Southeast will, too.
Aided by fresh snow cover provided by Winter Storm Gianna and the frigid, polar air pulled south behind it, some record lows and record cold highs are possible in the Southeast through Tuesday.
And daytime highs may struggle to rise above freezing for many locations until Wednesday.
(MAPS: 10-Day US Forecast Highs/Lows)
Cold Streaks
The extreme cold will hang on across the Ohio Valley and Northeast for the next several days as well.
In parts of the Northeast, it's not only how cold it's been, but how long it's lasted.
New York City's Central Park dipped below freezing last Friday, and should finally rise above freezing Monday afternoon. This 10- or 11-day subfreezing streak would be their longest in eight years, since late December 2017 through early January 2018, according to NOAA's database. The Big Apple's record is 16 straight days in 1961.
It's even more unusual in the Nation's Capital.
Washington, D.C., may finally rise above freezing on Monday as well. That nine-day subfreezing streak since last Saturday would be only the fifth such streak or longer dating to 1872, and their longest since mid-to late December 1989. Washington's all-time record-long streak below freezing is 12 straight days from late January through early February 1936.
It could be the coldest last week of January in at least 63 years in State College, Pennsylvania, according to the National Weather Service.
Based on the forecast through Sunday, this may be among the top 5 or 10 coldest Jan. 19-Feb. 1 two-week periods on record for dozens of cities in the Midwest, Northeast and South, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center.
Any Relief?
The short answer: not much.
Temperatures will slowly recover for a day or two after Groundhog Day.
But our forecast guidance suggests repeated plunges of cold air from Canada into the East through the second week of February.
Meanwhile, much of the Plains and West is expected to be warmer than average.
So if you need a true winter escape, you may want to head West instead.
Jennifer Gray is a weather and climate writer for weather.com. She has been covering some of the world's biggest weather and climate stories for the last two decades.
Jonathan Erdman is a senior meteorologist at weather.com and has been covering national and international weather since 1996. Extreme and bizarre weather are his favorite topics. Reach out to him on Bluesky, X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook.
Source: “AOL Breaking”
