Jacksonville is a city located on the Florida Peninsula and has a humid subtropical climate characterized by hot, humid summers and dry, mild winters. Many subtropical climates tend to be located close to coastal areas, such as Jacksonville, but in some cases they also extend inland. The climate of the northern and central parts of the U.S. state of Florida is humid subtropical. South Florida has a tropical climate.
There is a definite rainy season, from May to October, when massive air storms that accumulate in the heat of the day let heavy but brief rains fall in summer. In October, the dry season begins in much of Florida (beginning early in the month in North Florida and near the end of the month in deep South Florida) and lasts until late April most years. North Florida's mid-latitude storm fronts occasionally cross the northern and central parts of the state, causing light and brief winter showers. The middle and end of winter can become very dry in Florida. In some years, the dry season becomes quite severe and water restrictions are imposed to conserve water.
While most areas of Florida don't experience any type of frozen precipitation, North Florida may see fleeting snow or sleet several times each decade. The USDA hardiness zones for the state range from zone 8B (15°F to 20°F) at the northwestern end of the peninsula, to zone 12A (50°F to 55°F) in the part Lower from the Florida Keys. The Gulf Stream that crosses the Florida Strait and then north of Florida's east coast maintains moderate temperatures a few miles inland, from around Stuart, on the east coast, to Fort Myers, on the state's west coast, all year round, with few temperature extremes. The tropical ocean current also provides warm sea surface temperatures, making Florida's beaches some of the warmest waters for surfing in the continental United States.
Florida's geography also makes it vulnerable to the effects of climate change, both in terms of the intensification of extreme weather events, such as the intensification of hurricanes, and to coastal flooding and other effects of rising sea levels. During winter, the prevailing winds come from the north, cross the peninsula to the south and arrive near Orlando, but are variable in the rest of the state. The summer season generally features winds from the east and southeast across the peninsula. During the summer months, the average wind pattern involves a shallow ridge axis that normally extends across central Florida, with easterly winds from Tampa to the south and southwesterly winds in northern Florida.
The maximum wind gust for the period from 1930 to 1997 was 115 miles per hour at Miami International Airport during Hurricane Andrew. In July, the trade winds from the south of the subtropical mountain range moving north expand northwest to Florida. Sometimes, Saharan dust moving around the southern periphery of the ridge enters the state, suppressing precipitation and changing the sky from blue to white, causing an increase in red sunsets. Its presence negatively affects air quality throughout the southeastern United States during the summer, as the amount of particles suspended in the air increases.
This is in stark contrast to the normally clean air in Florida and the southeastern United States, which on average is the cleanest air in the U.S. UU. More than 50% of the African dust that reaches the United States affects Florida. Since 1970, dust outbreaks have worsened due to periods of drought in Africa.
There is great variability in the transport of dust to the Caribbean and Florida from one year to the next. It is possible that dust events are related to a decline in the health of coral reefs in the Caribbean and Florida, mainly since the 1970s. On average, Florida has the mildest winters in the continental United States. Average lows range from 65°F in Key West to nearly 41°F in Tallahassee, while daytime highs range from 62°F in Tallahassee to 77°F in Miami.
The prevailing tropical easterly winds in central and south Florida keep temperatures warm during winter. From time to time, strong cold fronts move south of the peninsula, with temperatures below zero or near zero for some nights to inland areas of central Florida every few years. Sometimes every decade, Miami can see a winter night fall below 45°F. El Niño winters tend to be colder due to increased cloud cover, but they tend to have less frost.
USDA zone 12A, the hottest zone in the state, with average extreme annual lows of between 50°F and 55°F, is located in the Dry Tortugas area. USDA Zone 11B, with average annual lows between 45°F and 50°F, is located between Key West and Marathon. USDA Zone 11A, with average annual lows of between 40°F and 45°F, is found in the rest of the Florida Keys, Miami Beach, and parts of downtown Miami. USDA Zone 10B, with average annual lows of between 35°F and 40°F, is located on the coast of South Florida and in much of the Everglades.
USDA zone 10A, with a minimum annual average of between 30°F and 35°F, is found in the rest of South Florida and in certain coastal regions as far north as St. Petersburg, on the state's western coast, and approximately Vero Beach, on the state's east coast. USDA zone 9B, with average annual lows of between 25°F and 30°F, is located in the interior of Central Florida and continue north to Fernandina Beach. USDA Zone 9A, with average annual lows of between 20°F and 25°F, is located across an area that extends from Ocala to Pensacola.
USDA Zone 8B, the coldest zone in the state, with average annual lows of between 15°F and 20°F, is located in the extreme northwest of Florida, along the northern part of Esambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa, Walton and Holmes counties. Despite being the mildest on average, winter weather was a crucial contributing factor to the Challenger disaster on January 28, 1986, when nighttime temperatures in Titusville, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center, dropped to 24 °F and were still below freezing, from 28.0 °F to 28.9 °F on the day of launch. The severe cold had caused the SRB O-rings on the right side to crack, as they only had a tolerance on the red line of 39°F.Across the state, the highest amounts of rain occur during the summer months. In North Florida, there is a weak secondary peak during winter, while across the state the driest months of the year are during spring.
During El Niño, Florida has the highest rainfall between November and March. Due to the lack of a secondary maximum throughout the peninsula, a different dry season is observed in the averages, from winter to spring. This dry season causes forest fires every year, as temperatures rise in late spring, before disappearing in early June, when the rainy season begins. In some places, there are more than 90 days of thunderstorms a year, making Florida one of the stormiest regions outside the tropics. The Florida Theater, which also opened its doors in 1927, is located in downtown Jacksonville and is one of four high-style movie palaces still built in Florida during the architectural boom of the Mediterranean Renaissance of the 1920s.
Strong tornadoes occasionally form in Florida, usually along with a cold front pass in winter or spring. Despite its distance from the Gulf Stream, Jacksonville is no stranger to Florida hurricanes, and several infamous storms have been known to occur in Duval County over the years. In addition, the game between Florida and Georgia (also known as the largest outdoor cocktail party in the world), the annual college football game between the rival Florida Gators and the Georgia Bulldogs, has been held in Jacksonville nearly every year since 1933. In addition, WEZI 102.9 is considered another competitor specialized in alternative or contemporary adult R&B, which is often described as Easy 102.9 along with 96.1 WEJZ, WHJX Hot 106.5 specialized in urban contemporary for adults, and WQIK 99.1 simply specializing in traditional or American country, as well as WGNE-FM 99.9 and WJCT 89.9 are, finally, the local branch of National Public Radio. Florida counties with tropical climates include Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Beach, Lee, Collier, and Monroe counties.
The Florida Times-Union is the state of Florida's leading wide-format daily newspaper, headquartered in Jacksonville. The state of Florida has designated Cecil Airport as a spaceport, allowing horizontally elevated spacecraft to use the facility. Weekly newspapers include the Jacksonville Business Journal, a publication of the American City Business Journal that focuses on business news, Folio Weekly, the city's leading alternative weekly, and The Florida Star and Jacksonville Free Press, two weeklies aimed at African-Americans. The center, divided into industrial and commercial zones, offers medium to large plots for development; it has excellent transportation and utility infrastructure, including the third longest runway in Florida.
The city hosts the Florida-Georgia game, an annual college football game between the University of Florida and the University of Georgia, and the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl, a postseason college football game. After Spain ceded the territory of Florida to the United States in 1821, the American colonists on the north side of the Cow Ford decided to plan a city, tracing the streets and the plates.
