If September felt hot and seemed stormy, you'd be right. In fact, this September went down as one of the top 10 warmest on record for Orlando, Sanford, Daytona Beach, Melbourne, and Leesburg.

What You Need To Know

  • September finished as one of the top 10 warmest on record

  • Orlando had its first afternoon below 80 degrees since June

  • Most of Central Florida picked up above-normal rainfall

It was not until the final day of September that cooler air invaded Central Florida and dropped temperatures significantly below average.

Orlando only hit a high of 78 degrees on September 30th after a month long stretch of afternoon highs in the upper 80s and 90s. This was the first afternoon with a high temperature below 80 degrees since June 4th.

The cooldown was due to an earlier than normal cold front that swept into Florida. Generally, fronts do not start diving down into Florida until mid-to-late October. But the cold fronts have started coming earlier this fall season.

Despite September being the peak of hurricane season, Central Florida fortunately stayed tropically trouble-free.

The month did feature near-to-above normal rainfall. September is the fourth wettest month of the year on average for Orlando. 

It typically brings about 6.06" of rain. This year Orlando finished more than four inches above this average with a total of 10.74" of rain.

September 9th had the highest daily rainfall amount with 4.09" measured at the Orlando International Airport, the official weather observation site for the City Beautiful. It was also a daily rainfall record for the date.

While three of the five official observation sites of Central Florida finished wetter than normal for the month, Melbourne and Leesburg both finished slightly drier than average.

Below is a complete summary of the temperatures and rainfall for September across Central Florida.

Orlando

  • Rainfall: 10.74"
  • Average: 6.06”
  • Departure: +4.68”
  • Average Temperature: 82.3 degrees
  • Departure: +1.2 degrees
  • Number of 90-Degree Days 90: 20
  • Average 90-Degree Days: 16
  • Ties for 9th Warmest September on Record

Daytona Beach

  • Rainfall: 8.23”
  • Average: 6.96”
  • Departure: +1.27” 
  • Average Temperature: 80.8 degrees
  • Departure: +1.3 degrees
  • Number of 90-Degree Days: 10
  • Average 90-Degree Days: 4
  • Ties for 8th Warmest September on Record

Melbourne

  • Rainfall: 7.10”
  • Average: 7.64”
  • Departure: -0.54”
  • Average Temperature: 81.8 degrees
  • Departure: +1.2 degrees
  • Number of 90-Degree Days: 9
  • Average 90-Degree Days: 8
  • Ties for 6th Warmest September on Record

Sanford

  • Rainfall: 7.75”
  • Average: 6.18”
  • Departure: +1.57”
  • Average Temperature: 82.0 degrees
  • Departure: +1.1 degrees
  • Number of 90-Degree Days: 20
  • Average 90-Degree Days: 16
  • Ties for 4th Warmest September on Record

Leesburg

  • Rainfall: 5.53”
  • Average: 6.15”
  • Departure: -0.62”
  • Average Temperature: 82.0 degrees
  • Departure: +0.9 degrees
  • Number of 90-Degree Days: 18
  • Average 90-Degree Days: 16
  • 7th Warmest September on Record

Records for Orlando go back to 1892, 1923 in Daytona Beach, 1948 in Sanford, 1937 in Melbourne and 1959 for Leesburg.