Cold blast hits Jacksonville overnight

Nor’easter conditions by Wednesday morning

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – George Winterling recently wrote in his blog how November is dominated by northeast winds, that sometimes can bring us severe weather. We refer to these extreme conditions as nor'easters.

The worst nor'easters last for days: High winds over 50 mph, severe beach erosion, extreme surf, well above normal high tides colder than normal temperatures and -- sometimes -- extremely heavy rains. Basically these bring northeast Florida and southeast Georgia our worst weather.

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But there are many variations of these nor'easters. While you were sleeping, our winds built as our temperatures dropped, then will barely recover with sunny skies Wednesday.

At first the worst of conditions will be inland, as the coldest air so far this winter will cause freezing conditions just west of us -- in the Panhandle and much of southwest Georgia. Locally, we will have wake-up temperatures drop to the mid-40s, but feel-like temperatures will be 30-35 due to winds around 25 mph.

By mid-morning Wednesday, winds will turn more onshore (northeasterly) and that will set-up the beaches for gusts of winds above 40 mph. As such there is a gale warning in effect for the coastal waters as winds will drive ocean waves over 10 feet and create dangerous surf conditions.

Wrap the kids up Wednesday morning!

Later in the day, around 5 p.m., at high tide, we will see tides run about 1 foot above normal. This will lead moderate beach erosion. South of St. Augustine they may see some street flooding pre-dawn Thursday morning during the 5 a.m. high tide.

The big twist? As quickly as all these changes roll into us, we will see temperatures bounce back and be near 80 by Sunday.