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CLIMATE OF ORLANDO AREA
Florida
Orlando, like much of the Florida peninsula, has a warm, humid subtropical climate year-round, with occasional cold fronts during the winter. The area does not experience the four seasons of most of the rest of the U.S., the year instead being divided into just two seasons of roughly equal length. The warm season, which largely coincides with the Atlantic hurricane season, is extremely warm and humid with frequent thunderstorms. It lasts from May to mid-October, when it gives way to the cool season, which features balmy temperatures and scant rainfall.
The area owes its warm, humid climate to its low elevation, location near the center of the narrow Florida peninsula (it is 50 miles from the Atlantic Ocean, and 80 miles from the Gulf of Mexico), flat terrain, and position just a few degrees north of the Tropic of Cancer. In addition, the Gulf Stream moderates the state's climate year-round. A typical summer day does not see nighttime temperatures dip below 70ºF (21º C), while daytime highs hover from the upper 80s to the mid 90s (30-35°C), accompanied by high humidity. The heat is often relieved by afternoon thunderstorms, which are followed by more moderate temperatures, though still within very muggy conditions. High temperatures typically do not differ more than 2-3ºF from day to day in the summer. During winter, humidity is significantly lower, allowing for cooler and much more variable weather to develop. Average minimum temperatures in January are around 50ºF (10ºC), rarely dipping below 32ºF (0ºC), and the maxima usually range between 60° and 80°F (15-27°C), with an average high near 70°F.
Despite the constant summer heat, Orlando only very rarely records triple-digit temperatures (38°C), that mark having last been reached in 1998 (the all-time record high of 102ºF, or 39ºC, was recorded that year). Extreme summer humidity, however, often boosts the heat index into the 110s (43 to 48ºC). The coldest temperature ever recorded in Orlando was 19°F (-7°C) in 1985. The city sees freezing temperatures three times a year on average. Snow is exceedingly rare, with no recorded instance of a measurable event. The most recent occurrence was on December 23, 1989, when scattered flurries were reported, though trace amounts of snow did fall on January 24, 2003, along the Atlantic coast to the east.
The average annual rainfall in Orlando is 48.35 in. (122.56 cm), most of it falling from June through September in the form of violent afternoon thunderstorms, sometimes at a rate of several inches per hour. These storms are caused by colliding air masses from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean, and they frequently bring high winds, damaging hail, and lightning to the area. Orlando is sometimes incorrectly referred to as the lightning capital of the world. It is actually second to parts of Central Africa in its frequency of lightning strikes, but it certainly has more lightning strikes than any other city in the United States. The months of December through May are considered Orlando's dry season, with wildfires being a hazard, particularly in May. On occasion, these wildfires are severe enough for their smoke to severely impact air quality.
Orlando's hurricane risk, while considerable, is not extreme, as in the case of the South Florida urban corridor and other coastal areas of the state. This is due to its location some forty miles inland from the Atlantic and sixty miles from the Gulf of Mexico, which lessens potential wind damage. In addition, an elevation around 100 ft (30 m) above sea level, high by Florida standards, precludes destructive storm surges. Nevertheless, during the notorious 2004 hurricane season, inland Central Florida was assailed by three separate hurricanes, incurring significant damage to both structures and the area's tree cover.
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