JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Tonight most of our area is under a Hard Freeze Warning starting at 8:00p.m. and sub freezing temperatures are expected through 10:00a.m. on Friday morning. A Hard Freeze Warning means that temperatures are expected below 27° for longer than two hours.
Early Friday morning our temperatures will sink down into the low 20s to the West of I-95. Inland, rural locations that typically get cooler than others may see the upper teens. To the East of I-95 overnight temperatures will sink down into the mid 20s to low 30s, with the "warmest" temperatures right along the Beaches.
Everyone, area-wide, should be concerned with heating your homes safely. Do not use space heaters overnight. Outdoor pets and plants should be brought in or protected from the cold. Exposed pipes should be dripped, and pool pumps should be run over inland areas. Pipes that run down to sinks at docks should be dripped.
A major concern tonight is homes without power that are on well water. In these homes- when you lose electricity you also lose water (the pump providing water pressure has no power) and residents have limited means to heat their homes with no power and no way to drip they pipes. Carbon monoxide poisoning is a huge concern overnight for fuel based free-standing heaters brought inside.
Tonight's record low for Jacksonville is 23° and was set in 1999. Forecast models predict lows in the low 20s, and The weather Authority forecast is for 23°. That forecast is for the airport, which is where the National Weather Service of Jacksonville office is located. Locations closer to the river and the beaches will not get quite that low. Overnight lows for Arlington, Mandarin, and the Southside should be in the mid 20s. The beaches should get down into the upper 20s. St Augustine will get down into the mid to upper 20s. St Augustine's record low is 28°, set in 2010.
Temperatures should climb above freezing by 10:00a.m. and under sunny skies we will warm into the 40s.
When will it FINALLY warm up? We get above freezing Saturday night/Sunday morning and then Monday afternoon we will make it into the upper 60s.