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gatorcane wrote:I disagree with you about the Gulf stream. It's only about 5 miles offshore of the Boca/Delray area and is typically in the 78F-80F range all winter. the Southeast Florida coast from about Jupiter down through the Florida Keys benefit the most from this current. Once the winds have enough of an easterly component (even if the winds are NNE or NE)....the gulf stream quickly modifies this cold air.
One morning the temp outside my house in coastal Boca Raton (about 1.5 miles from the ocean) was about 48F and within about 30 minutes rose to 64F once the winds went from calm to ENE at 5-10 mph.....
Once you get well-inland in South Florida, the Gulf stream has less of an effect. In fact why do you think that SW Florida is typically about 5-7 degrees colder than the Southeast coast during arctic outbreaks? Even Tampa, a little bit north and west can be up to 10-15 degrees colder than Boca Raton down through Miami/Ft.Lauderdale.
The gulf stream is a deciding factor and if it were not for that current, Southeast Florida would have a climate similar to Tampa and Ft. Myers on the West coast....
Here is a link to current SSTs in the Gulf stream:
http://marine.rutgers.edu/mrs/show/?fil ... 35.n17.jpg
I never said the Gulf Stream was not a factor. The Gulf Stream certainly is a factor, but that often depends on the synoptics and surface, mid-level, and upper-level features in place or taking place at the time. For example, surface heat ridging in place near the Bahamas with a surface low nearby in the GOM can be an efficient heating and moderation transport for southeast Florida via south-southeasterly surface wind flow. Many other setups (insufficient push for a surface front or horizontal flow ahead of a mid-level trough that results in a stalled surface front across the peninsula) can also combine with some Gulf Stream influences and other synoptics nearby and at all levels for moderation of surface temperatures in southeast Florida.
With a vigorous cold air transport, however, the Gulf Stream's influence is often overemphasized as the principal factor for temperatures warmer than progged in southern Florida. This is where the crux I mentioned exists. If the Gulf Stream was theoretically an extremely efficient and constant heat transport for surface temperatures, south Florida would have a tropical climate more in the mold of portions of Cuba, the Antilles, or South America, which is as far from the truth as anything; thus, winter freezes on occasion are climatologically frequent in south Florida, along with a rarer strong freeze. Southern Florida's climate, per official sources, is subtropical, NOT tropical.
This doesn't mean the Gulf Stream can't have an influence. It does make the point that the current and associated warm eddies alone being responsible for moderation on the southern Florida peninsula is all too often mentioned as the sole factor many times when in reality other factors were more responsible. Although northeast wind flow interacting with the Gulf Stream can play a role numerous times, in many other situations the Gulf Stream was emphasized as the main cause when other more significant factors were at the source of milder surface temperatures - both day and overnight - than originally progged for southeast Florida.
