Brian Donegan
Published: April 15, 2020
A temperature of 80 degrees in April might feel pleasant to many after the chill of winter, but imagine it's already that warm when you wake up on an April morning. That's what happened in Miami on Monday morning.
When the sun rose at about 7 a.m. Monday, Miami was sitting at a miserable 81 degrees with a heat index of 86. But the low temperature for the day will go down in the record books as 80 degrees because it dropped to 80 just before midnight.
Regardless, Monday's low of 80 was not only its warmest low for April 13, but it was the city's all-time-warmest low for the entire month of April. That temperature is closer to Miami's average high for mid-April (83) than its average low (68).
In fact, Miami's highest average low temperature during the summer is 78, so Monday's 80-degree low was warmer than a typical July or August morning in South Florida.
Miami's low temperature of 80 degrees on Monday was both a daily warm record and a monthly warm record for April.
As of Wednesday morning, Miami was on pace for its fourth consecutive day with a record-warm low temperature.
On Easter Sunday, the low of 78 tied the daily warm record. Monday's low of 80 broke the daily warm record and the monthly warm record for April. A 79-degree low Tuesday broke the daily warm record. Wednesday morning's temperature was 80, and if that stands through midnight, it will also break the daily warm record and tie the monthly warm record for April that was just set on Monday.
In addition, if the temperature stays at or above 78 through midnight Wednesday night, it will mark the fourth straight day with a low temperature of 78 degrees or warmer. This would be the earliest in the year such an occurrence has happened in Miami, breaking the previous record of four consecutive 78-plus-degree lows by two weeks, previously set April 27-30, 2017.
Looks like a low of 80° (again) in #Miami on Wednesday. That makes 4 consecutive days with a 78°+ low... and it sets a new record for the earliest that has ever happened at MIA by two weeks*. The previous earliest stretch of such days was April 27-30, 2017.
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At least it hasn't been as sweltering as last July's 84-degree low temperature, the city's warmest night of all-time.
Last week, high temperatures in Miami soared to 94 on Thursday and 95 on Friday, both daily record highs. Reaching the mid-90s on back-to-back days in Miami is extremely rare not only in April, but even during the peak of summer, according to Brian McNoldy, a Miami resident and senior research associate at the University of Miami's Rosenstiel School.
Here's a quick & dirty shot at how rare the 94 and 95° highs were in #Miami on Thursday and Friday... on April 9 and 10. Gray bars are daily counts of all consecutive 2-day 94°+ highs. Red line is a smoothed daily probability. It's rare even in the peak of summer... but APRIL??
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While not every day this year has set a temperature record in South Florida, it has been very warm overall.
2020 ranks as the hottest year to date in Miami through Tuesday, according to the Southeast Regional Climate Center. But there's more to the story.
The year-to-date average temperature has crushed the previous record-warm year to date by a full degree; These records are typically only topped by a couple tenths of a degree or less.
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"We are breaking heat-related daily, monthly and year-to-date records left and right," McNoldy said. "Miami is a warm place to begin with, but no one has ever experienced heat like this before here."
McNoldy noted that one contributing factor to the recent South Florida heat is a weak southeasterly wind flow over "insanely hot water" for this time of year in the southwestern Atlantic Ocean. As of Wednesday, sea-surface temperatures there were running in the lower 80s, far above average for mid-April.
The Miami misery is expected to continue this week, with highs in the upper 80s and lower 90s and lows in the mid- to upper 70s.
Cuba, some 300 miles south of Miami, has also been searing in record heat recently. An all-time record high for the entire country was set on three consecutive days last Friday through Easter Sunday.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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