066 NOUS42 KMLB 011229 PNSMLB FLZ041-044>047-053-054-058-059-064-141-144-147-011430- PUBLIC INFORMATION STATEMENT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE MELBOURNE FL 729 AM EST WED JAN 1 2014 ...DECEMBER 2013 WAS MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL FOR EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA AND DRIER THAN NORMAL AT MOST LOCATIONS... DECEMBER SAW FEWER COLD FRONTAL PASSAGES THAN NORMAL ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA. AND LIKE NOVEMBER, THEIR COOLING EFFECTS WERE LIMITED BY QUICK RETURNS TO WARMER ONSHORE FLOW. THIS LED TO MUCH ABOVE NORMAL TEMPERATURES ACROSS THE REGION, BUT RAINFALL WAS BELOW NORMAL AT MOST LOCATIONS. .TEMPERATURES... THE FIRST FEW DAYS OF DECEMBER SAW NEAR NORMAL TEMPERATURES BEHIND A WEAK COLD FRONT. A HIGH PRESSURE RIDGE THEN SET UP OVER THE ATLANTIC AND PROVIDED A WARM SOUTHERLY WIND FLOW. THIS CAUSED TEMPERATURES TO BE MUCH ABOVE NORMAL THROUGH THE 11TH. A DRY COLD FRONT ON THE 12TH AND ANOTHER FRONT ON THE 15TH KNOCKED TEMPERATURES BACK DOWN CLOSER TO NORMAL OR A LITTLE BELOW FOR A FEW DAYS. THEN TEMPERATURES ONCE AGAIN QUICKLY MODIFIED AND SEVERAL RECORD HIGHS OCCURRED FROM THE 21ST THROUGH THE 23RD. A COLD FRONT ON CHRISTMAS EVE PUT AN END TO THE RECORD HEAT, THOUGH TEMPERATURES REMAINED AT OR A LITTLE ABOVE NORMAL. ANOTHER WARMUP QUICKLY FOLLOWED UNTIL A COLD FRONTAL PASSAGE LATE ON THE 29TH AND EARLY ON THE 30TH, RETURNING TEMPERATURES CLOSER TO NORMAL. OVERALL, MONTHLY AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WERE MUCH WARMER THAN NORMAL, RANGING FROM 5 TO 6 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL AT SITES ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA. IT WAS THE SECOND TO FOURTH WARMEST DECEMBER AT THE FOUR MAIN CLIMATE SITES. DAILY RECORD TEMPERATURES FOR THE MONTH: DAYTONA BEACH: -DECEMBER 5: RECORD HIGH OF 83 DEGREES WAS EQUALED. PREVIOUSLY 83 DEGREES WAS REACHED IN 1984. -DECEMBER 22: RECORD HIGH OF 85 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 83 SET IN 1948. -DECEMBER 23: RECORD WARM LOW OF 68 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 67 SET IN 1971. -DECEMBER 23: RECORD HIGH OF 85 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 84 SET IN 1990. ORLANDO: -DECEMBER 21: RECORD HIGH OF 87 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 85 SET IN 1951 AND 1928. -DECEMBER 22: RECORD HIGH OF 86 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 84 SET IN 1998 AND 1990. -DECEMBER 23: RECORD HIGH OF 86 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 85 SET IN 2011. MELBOURNE: -DECEMBER 10: RECORD HIGH OF 85 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 84 SET IN 2012, 1994, 1967, AND 1947. -DECEMBER 22: RECORD HIGH OF 84 DEGREES WAS EQUALED. PREVIOUSLY 84 DEGREES WAS REACHED IN 1967. -DECEMBER 23: RECORD HIGH OF 86 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 84 SET IN 1981. VERO BEACH: -DECEMBER 22: RECORD HIGH OF 84 DEGREES WAS EQUALED. PREVIOUSLY 84 DEGREES WAS REACHED IN 1987 AND 1971. -DECEMBER 23: RECORD WARM LOW OF 69 DEGREES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 68 SET IN 2006. -DECEMBER 23: RECORD HIGH OF 84 DEGREES WAS EQUALED. PREVIOUSLY 84 DEGREES WAS REACHED IN 1990. AVERAGE TEMPERATURE VALUES FOR DECEMBER 2013 AT THE FOUR PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ARE AS FOLLOWS (RANKINGS PROVIDED IF IN THE TOP 10): -DAYTONA BEACH HAD AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 66.0 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, WHICH WAS 5.5 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS MAKES DECEMBER 2013 THE 3RD WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD WAS IN 1931, 70.9 DEGREES. -ORLANDO HAD AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 68.0 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, WHICH WAS 5.4 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS MAKES DECEMBER 2013 THE 3RD WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD WAS IN 1971, 71.3 DEGREES. -MELBOURNE HAD AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 68.7 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, WHICH WAS 5.7 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS MAKES DECEMBER 2013 THE 4TH WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD WAS IN 1971, 70.4 DEGREES. -VERO BEACH HAD AN AVERAGE MONTHLY TEMPERATURE OF 69.7 DEGREES FAHRENHEIT, WHICH WAS 5.1 DEGREES ABOVE NORMAL. THIS MAKES DECEMBER 2013 THE 2ND WARMEST ON RECORD. THE WARMEST DECEMBER ON RECORD WAS IN 1971, 71.4 DEGREES. .RAINFALL... DESPITE AIR MASSES THAT WERE FREQUENTLY WARMER AND MORE MOIST THAN NORMAL, RAINFALL ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA WAS BELOW NORMAL AT MOST LOCATIONS. THE EXCEPTION WAS THE TREASURE COAST WHERE THERE WERE A FEW MORE DAYS WITH LIGHT TO MODERATE AMOUNTS AND ONE DAY WITH LOCALLY HEAVY RAINFALL. A COASTAL TROUGH BROUGHT SHOWERS, SOME WITH HEAVY RAIN, TO THE SPACE AND TREASURE COAST ON THE FIRST DAY OF THE MONTH. THEN ASIDE FROM A FEW ONSHORE MOVING SHOWERS ALONG THE SPACE AND TREASURE COASTS, IT WAS DRY UNTIL A COLD FRONT ON THE 14TH AND 15TH BROUGHT RAINFALL TO MOST OF THE AREA, BUT TOTALS WERE GENERALLY LOW. ANOTHER FRONT BROUGHT RAINFALL ON THE 29TH BUT MOST AMOUNTS WERE AGAIN LOW. DAILY RECORD RAINFALL FOR THE MONTH: VERO BEACH -DECEMBER 1: RECORD DAILY RAINFALL OF 1.33 INCHES. PREVIOUS RECORD WAS 0.97 INCHES IN 1984. DECEMBER 2013 RAINFALL TOTALS FOR THE FOUR PRIMARY CLIMATE SITES ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA ARE AS FOLLOWS (RANKINGS PROVIDED IF IN THE TOP 10): -DAYTONA BEACH RECEIVED 1.69 INCHES OF RAIN FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS 0.94 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. -ORLANDO RECEIVED 0.27 INCHES OF RAIN FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS 2.31 INCHES BELOW NORMAL, MAKING IT THE 6TH DRIEST DECEMBER ON RECORD. -MELBOURNE RECEIVED 2.15 INCHES OF RAIN FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS 0.42 INCHES BELOW NORMAL. -VERO BEACH RECEIVED 2.59 INCHES OF RAIN FOR THE MONTH, WHICH WAS 0.40 INCHES ABOVE NORMAL. BELOW IS A LIST OF OBSERVED PRECIPITATION TOTALS AND RAINFALL STATISTICS FOR SELECT SITES ACROSS EAST CENTRAL FLORIDA FOR DECEMBER 2013: STATION DECEMBER 2013 30 YEAR DEPARTURE PERCENT OF RAINFALL NORMAL FROM NORMAL NORMAL DAYTONA BEACH 1.69" 2.63" -0.94" 64% (DAB) ORLANDO 0.27" 2.58" -2.31" 10% (MCO) MELBOURNE 2.15" 2.57" -0.42" 84% (MLB) VERO BEACH 2.59" 2.19" +0.40" 118% (VRB) LEESBURG 0.59" 2.52 -1.93 23% (LEE) CLERMONT 0.50" 2.89" -2.39" 17% (CLRF1) DELAND 1.65 2.82 -1.17 59% (DELF1) SANFORD 0.82" 2.59" -1.76" 32% (SFNF1) FORT PIERCE 2.65" 2.11" +0.54" 126% (KFPR) FORT PIERCE 3.23" 2.13" +1.10" 152% (FPCF1) STUART 3.23" 2.90" +0.33" 111% (STRF1) FOR MORE LOCAL INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT OUR WEB PAGE AT HTTP://WEATHER.GOV/MELBOURNE AND CLICK ON THE "LOCAL" LINK UNDER THE CLIMATE SUBSECTION ON THE LEFT SIDE OF THE PAGE. $$ LASCODY