Florida to have freezing weather this week as temperatures tumble across Southeast
Temperatures will be 20 degrees below historical average this week across the Southeast with a frost or freeze likely in areas of Florida.
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Much colder air is settling into the southern United States, with temperatures predicted to drop below freezing as far south as central Florida, AccuWeather meteorologists say. The cooldown comes after a warm start to 2026.
During the first 11 days of the month, cities like Charlotte, North Carolina, New Orleans and Atlanta were running 11 degrees Fahrenheit above the historical average. The city of Jackson, Mississippi, measured 13.5 degrees above the average during the same time frame.
Compared to the high temperatures recorded at the start of the week, the highs Thursday afternoon were as much as 25 degrees lower. High temperatures were in the 30s Thursday for cities like Nashville and Atlanta. New Orleans and Tallahassee, Florida, had temperatures maxing out in the 50s.
The last time it was this cold in the Southeast was during the final days of 2025.
Colder conditions will also infiltrate Florida later this week. Chillier mornings started as early as Thursday morning in far northern Florida. However, the drop in temperature will be most extreme Friday morning. Low temperatures are forecast to drop into the 20s for cities like Jacksonville and Tallahassee, and cities like Orlando and Lakeland could drop as low as the 30s.
“Green iguanas are sensitive to the cold and can become stunned when temperatures fall into the 40s and 30s," AccuWeather Meteorologist Brandon Buckingham said. "When that happens, they may lose their grip and fall from the trees. It’s a unique cold-weather hazard in Florida.”
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The weather pattern setting up this week across the northern and eastern U.S. is likely to continue for much of the month.
A southward dip in the jet stream will allow persistent waves of cold and snow to push into the Great Lakes and the Northeast. A few inches of snow could accumulate as far south as the Appalachians of North Carolina and Tennessee. A coating of snow is possible from a quick-moving weekend storm from southern Georgia to eastern North Carolina and southeastern Virginia.
While the snowy weather is unlikely to reach the Gulf Coast beaches, unlike last January, it will snow a bit north of Interstate 10, and the weather pattern will bring a more persistent chill into at least early next week.
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