Rain, Snow and Sleet...for FLORIDA!

The major cold outbreak continues to move southward. A trough at 500 mb will lead to the chance of precipitation across Florida on Friday afternoon into Saturday morning. The temperatures are cold enough at the surface and aloft for rain, snow and sleet across central Florida northward to Jacksonville on Friday. No accumulation is expected but there could be a little big of ice accumulation on grassy surfaces. The 850 mb temperature is forecasted to be at or below 32 degrees and there is enough moisture, so there is a very good chance that rain will begin on Friday and then mix with and change to sleet and then to snow late Friday night and early in the morning on Saturday. The most unusual aspect of this weather pattern is how long the cold has lasted. The temperatures even during the day in Florida this week have been below 65 degrees. The freezing line at 850 mb (approx. 3000 ft) moves south of Miami (see GFS output above) by Monday. This cold outbreak will cause major problems for agricultural interests. For the NYC metro area, we'll see a little light snow on Friday but other than that, it will be dry and cold through most of next week.

George Wright is a Certified Consulting Meteorologist and President of Wright Weather Consulting, Inc. Our website is WrightWeather.com.