What was the hottest, wettest, or coldest Easter in Jacksonville?
Knowing those answers can vary considerably due to the holiday’s moving date which can fall on any Sunday between March 22 and April 25.
Resurrection Sunday can be hot in the 90s or even have a rare late freeze.
Easter occurs on the first Sunday after the first full moon following the spring equinox and the various dates make calculating historical weather records time-consuming compared to one set date.
Jacksonville data is available back to 1872 corresponding to 151 Easter holy days.
Meteorologist Jason Hess at the National Weather Service office in Jacksonville crunched the records and found the typical Easter has an average high temperature of 78F, low 56F, and sees .09 inches of rain.
Rain is not very common this time of year falling only 33 times in recorded history making the odds of seeing measurable just 22%.
The hottest Easter was 91F set on April 19, 1981.
The latest freeze on record for Jacksonville was during the 2007 Easter on April 8, which dropped to 31°. Prior to this record, the temperature was never lower than 40° on Easter morning.
The wettest Easter, 2.34 inches was set on March 25, 1883.
Record Coldest Maximum Temp was 59F set on April 1, 1923.
Record Warmest Minimum Temp was 70F set on April 21, 1935.
The records show no Frozen Precipitation (Snow, Sleet or Hail) has ever been observed on Easter Sunday in JAX.
This Sunday’s cooler low 70s and showers will deviate from our typically milder and dry Easter weather.