2008 WEATHER EXTREMES

Its a new year and we can look back at 2008 and pick out notable weather events.  Jacksonville had 17 freezes at the airport and the coldest night was 25 degrees on January 3rd.  So far this fall/winter season, 28 degrees, on November 19 was the coldest we have seen; and that was before the official start of winter.  

At the other extrema a heat wave during the first week of August sent the temp to 96 degrees for two days in a row. But despite the heat, no records were set those days since the temperatures stayed below the 100 degree record.

But we did have record rain of 9.14 inches on August 21st.  So why was there so much rain in August? Thank Tropical storm Fay. It moved slowly  out of the Caribbean Sea, then cut across south and central Florida into the Atlantic Ocean. Fay then slowly curved west and made landfall in the vicinity for Flagler Beach and Beach on Aug 21st.  The NWS JAX noted as the storm made landfall sustained winds along the coast were between 40 and 50 mph with gusts in the 60 to 65 mph range. Storm Surge ranged from 2 to 4 feet along the open coast and about 1 to 2 feet on the St Johns River. Storm Surge Flooding occurred on the St Johns River on Thursday night August 21-22 in the Palatka area of Putnam County as northeasterly winds created a seiche effect driving river water southward. Flash flooding occurred on McCoys Creek on Thursday night and Moncrief Creek on Friday. Minor flooding of structures occurred across the area.
 

September is the wettest month on average in Jacksonville but last year August had the most rain out of any month at 16.83 inches.  We just ended the driest month of .59" in December.

A thunderstorm resulted in a maximum gust of 66 mph on 
August 7th.