ORLANDO, Fla. — The chill seems to be hitting Central Florida a little late this winter season compared to average.

  • Winter season overall has been unusually warm in Fla.
  • Early morning lows will dip below 40 degrees Wednesday
  • The cold weather won't stick around for long
  • Read more of Spectrum News 13's Weather Blog

This Wednesday, January 22, will be the first morning Orlando dips below 40 degrees since last January. This will tie for the fifth latest morning with a temperature below 40 degrees on record for the City Beautiful.

The average first 30-degree morning is December 7. The latest on record is January 29, 2007. Orlando is not alone though when it comes to the lack of colder temperatures this season.

Leesburg and Melbourne have yet to dip below 40 degrees too. Meanwhile, Sanford and Daytona Beach both had temps drop into the 30s this season. They both happened close to their average first dates, which is in early December.

This winter season has been unusually warm compared to normal for Central Florida with fewer strong pushes of cold air making its way down into the region.

In fact, December was the 12th warmest on record for the entire state of Florida. It wasn't the afternoon highs that were leading the way either. High temperatures finished as the 17th warmest on record for the state while lows were the 8th warmest on record.

Most of January then saw a big ridge of high pressure dominating not only our weather here in Central Florida, but for most of the Eastern U.S. This brought record warmth to Central Florida and parts of the East Coast for the middle of January.

This kept the colder air along the West Coast and the arctic air bottled up to the the north in Canada.

Finally, this stubborn ridge of high pressure that was locking out the cold fronts, the cool air and drier air broke down.

This allowed the overall weather pattern across the U.S. to change and the cold air spilled in down from Canada into the Eastern U.S.

This dip in the jet stream dug far enough south to allow the colder air to impact Central Florida.

Through mid-January, this winter season in Orlando is the 4th warmest on record with an average temperature of nearly 68 degrees.

High temperatures are tied for the 8th warmest on record with 1925 in Orlando. The average so far for highs this winter is 77 degrees. 

Morning temperatures are the 2nd warmest on record through mid-January in Orlando. The average low is running at nearly 59 degrees.

This cold won't stick around for long, so stay tuned to find out if the warmer than average temperatures will make a quick comeback after this late January chill down.

Here's a look at the average first low temperature below 40 degrees for the main weather observation sites across Central Florida.

Daytona Beach

  • Average First: December 5
  • 2019: December 3
  • 2018: November 28
  • 2017: December 10
  • 2016: December 31
  • Latest: March 7, 1932

Orlando

  • Average First: December 7
  • 2018: November 28
  • 2017: December 11
  • 2016: January 19
  • Latest: January 29, 2007

Melbourne

  • Average First: December 16
  • 2018: November 28
  • 2017: December 11
  • 2016: January 8
  • Latest: February 19, 2015

Sanford

  • Average First: December 3
  • 2019: December 3
  • 2018: November 28
  • 2017: December 10
  • 2016: December 31
  • Latest: January 16, 1972

Leesburg

  • Average First: December 2
  • 2018: November 28
  • 2017: January 1
  • 2016: December 31
  • Latest: January 24, 1995