Florida is caught between a climate change-induced sauna of extreme spring temperatures and a steam bath caused by warming oceans. The result has been record-setting heat that has turned April into summertime across the peninsula, raising the risk that early season Atlantic storms could blossom off the coast. Miami reached 93 degrees Fahrenheit on Wednesday, a record for the date and 10 degrees above normal, according to the National Weather Service. The combination of temperature and humidity has made many places in Florida feel closer to 100 degrees for weeks, said Jim Rouiller, lead forecaster at the Energy Weather Group.
This has been the way the spring has unfolded. To the west, the Gulf of Mexico has never been hotter: water temperatures reached 76.3 degrees Fahrenheit, 1.7 degrees above normal in charts that go back to 1982. To the east, the Caribbean almost set a record. The state, laying in the Atlantic like a hotdog in a bun, just had its warmest March on record. “It’s hard for Florida weather to be anything different from the oceans,” said Ryan Truchelut, owner of Tallahassee-based commercial forecaster Weather Tiger.
“We have set some records the last couple of days across the peninsula. It’s June-like warmth, there have been some upper 90s so that’s record-breaking for April,” Truchelut added. “There’s been a lot of weirdness of Florida weather patterns this winter.”