Buresh

Buresh Blog: Early spring across the south.... Sunniest U.S. cities... January rainfall

For the second winter in a row, spring has sprung early across the deep south.... Jacksonville/NE Fl & SE Ga. included. The result has been the “year without a winter” (so far!) & unseasonably early pollen. Pine pollen was under way the second week of Jan. & has peaked while oak pollen is now kicking in. That’s the bad news, but the good news is that the pollen season will be over (or peak) way early - probably by early March. The map below shows the early - by at least 20 days - start to spring across much of the south.

Move.org has assembled the U.S. sunniest cities. Key West is the only Florida city in the top 10 but a bunch of Fl. cities are in the top 50. Realize our summers are characterized by afternoon thunderstorms which pushes the “Sunshine State” down the list despite many sunny days from late fall through winter into spring. Jacksonville ranks #42 with 64.3% of possible sunshine (out of 100%).

January ended up “way” warm & dry. Only two nights (happened to be a little either way of midnight the same night so counted as two nights) dipped to 32 degrees. The inland Jacksonville average for freezes is 13 by the end of Jan. There have been only 3 so far! The month ranked as the 6th warmest since 1971 at JIA & was the 48th month in a row with at least one day of 80+. Only 0.18″ of rain fell at JIA. While many spots manages a half inch or more, the month - as a whole - was quite dry. Rainfall from the Jax N.W.S.:

FL JASPER 1.10

FL BEAUCLERC 1.00

FL JACKSONVILLE BEACH 0.82

FL FERNANDINA BEACH 0.35

FL LAKE CITY 2 E 0.63

FL SOUTH PONTE VEDRA BEACH SHOP M

FL CRESCENT CITY 0.56

FL GAINESVILLE RGNL AP 0.76

FL HASTINGS 4NE 0.42

FL OCALA 0.19

FL JACKSONVILLE CRAIG MUNI AP 0.42

FL JACKSONVILLE INTL AP 0.18

FL JACKSONVILLE NAS 0.55

FL MAYPORT NAVAL STATION 0.36

FL BUNNELL EOC 0.51

FL PALM COAST 0.51

FL PALM COAST 6NE 0.45

FL NORTHWEST PALM COAST 4.10

FL WEST PALM COAST 0.33

FL BULOW 0.28

FL FLAGLER BEACH 0.24

FL SE FLAGLER BEACH 0.41

FL HAMMOCK 4.21

GA PRIDGEN 3.43

GA ALMA BACON CO AP 2.27

GA NAHUNTA 6 NE 0.90

GA BRUNSWICK 1.62

GA BRUNSWICK MALCOLM MCKINNON AP 1.53

GA WOODBINE 1.40