JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — No one was rooting harder for Jacksonville's first 100-degree day in more than a year than Meteorologist Lauren Rautenkranz was on Friday. She had the data and even the first-ever Excessive Heat Warning for the city to back her up! However, the Jacksonville International Airport clocked in two degrees shy of the temperature milestone.
In all transparency on behalf of our First Coast News Most Accurate Weather Team, Friday's official high temperature in Jacksonville ended up at 98 degrees. It takes a lot of energy to get to the big 1-0-0 and the atmosphere just didn't have what it takes late last week. Then, after Saturday's high of another 98 degrees, the history books will go down with a four day stretch of consecutive highs of 98 degrees in Jacksonville (from Wednesday to Saturday). That's still quite impressive!
Either way, it felt a WHOLE lot hotter thanks to the humidity, which inevitably was the demise of Friday's failed 100 degree day. A soggier atmosphere heats up slower than a drier atmosphere. So, dew points were too high for temperatures to quickly shoot up to 100 degrees at the climate site last week. Feels like temperatures topped out between 110 and 115 degrees. Whew!
However, there were still many areas across the region that DID see 100 degrees on the thermometer, including Mayport and NAS JAX on Friday. Then, NAS JAX hit 100 again on Saturday with Mayport dialing it up to 101!
On average, Jacksonville can expect three days with afternoons at or above 98 degrees. This year so far, we've experienced eight of them! As the heat dome returns this week our temperatures will gradually build. It looks like we'll be dealing with the upper 90s yet again, especially Friday through the weekend.
Buckle up and stay cool, friends!
