Will Southwest Florida Ever See The Sun Again?
I mean, an I right? At least it’s not cold, but my favorite part about winter is the Southwest Florida sun. For those of you new to Fort Myers, Naples, and Southwest Florida, a typical January day has high temperatures nearing 80 and lots of sunshine with almost no chance of rain. So what’s going on?
There’s a trend. This seemed to start back in September. Even on days when we didn’t have afternoon showers, it just seemed a lot cloudier than usual. And that trend continued through the fall and now into 2024. Here’s the rub. It looks like the trend is going to continue. The extended forecast from the weather channel shows cloudy days through the rest of the month, and not a single day above 80 degrees.
Edit: Just a few hours after I wrote this, Cape Coral just got punished with rain. Up to 9 inches in places.
@NBC2 Flooding in Cape Coral! pic.twitter.com/IdQiqJM6XJ
— Eric English (@ericenglish) January 15, 2024
Why is there no Southwest Florida sun?
It’s El Niño. There’s been a series of low pressure areas moving through. One after another. It’s the reason why we’ve had so many clouds, and so much rain. As we’ve seen, El Niño has also brought about an increased risk of tornadoes. Here in Southwest Florida, it’s really starting to take a toll on the landscape. The hedges are thinner and the grass is struggling. We’re really not used to this. We need sunshine. But there’s something else adding to this dreariness. It hasn’t slowed down the tourists and snowbirds. Our roads are absolutely jammed with traffic. The clouds have not slowed down our tourist and snowbird season.
How much more of the cloudy days? Well, this pattern will probably last through the entire winter. And not just the clouds and the rain. It’s also likely we’ll see some cold fronts that will drag down much cooler air. Next weekend has a projected overnight low of 47 degrees. Time to fire up the facebook challenge of “can you make it without turning on your heat?”
This is fine.
Yeah, I miss the sun too. This is probably the palest my skin has looked in forever. And it’s not much fun on the beach or in the pool right now, but….. Check on your friends and family up north. It’s negative 3 in Sioux City, Iowa. They have 6 degrees in Dayton, Ohio. It’s 3 degrees in Detroit. We may be lacking sunshine, but at least we’re not scraping windshields and shoveling snow. Finally, as I was writing this, the sun peaked out and lit up the room with beautiful sunshine. And…… it’s gone again.
Sneak Peak Of The Rooftop At Riverside Food Truck Park
