Sun Loving Miami Came Close to Coldest Winter Night

MIAMI, FL — Having just experienced the warmest winter on record, sun loving Miami closed in on the coldest night of the year into Thursday.

Like Miami Patch on Facebook

Try not to shed too many tears for the spring break capital of the United States, however. This year's coldest winter night in Miami thus far had only dipped down to 51 degrees.

Sign up for our free Daily Newsletters and Breaking News Alerts for the Miami, FL Patch

Such frigid temperatures were actually recorded on two days — Jan 8 and Jan. 30.

Wednesday's forecast into Thursday from the National Weather Service called for cooler, drier air filtering in from the north and possibly challenging those earlier lows.

"Tonight will be the coldest night with the potential to tie or break a few records across South Florida," declared the National Weather Service on Wednesday.

Temperatures were expected to dip as low as the mid to upper 40s over the Miami metropolitan area and low to mid 50s along the coast.

With the wind chill, the National Weather Service cautioned that the temperatures could have felt like the mid to upper 40s.

Brrrr.

Elsewhere around the country winter storm advisories had been issued for Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York and up through New England, where residents were asked to stay off roads if at all possible.

It wasn't quite that bad in Miami after all.

Ian Lee, a general forecaster with the National Weather Service in Miami told Patch that the overnight temperatures reached 53 degrees at Miami International Airport, two degrees warmer than this winter's coldest.

In their defense, Miamians have gotten accustomed to an average temperature of 74.2 degrees over this year's meteorological winter which ran from December through the end of February.

The National Weather Service said that the area also broke a record for 80-plus temperature days with 69 out of a possible 90 during that period.

None of this will make you feel better if you are still wondering how in the world you will ever get your car out of the driveway.

Photo courtesy of the city of Miami