Looking to celebrate the holiday season like one of those festive movie scenes you’ve always seen? Hot chocolate, a fresh dusting of snow on the ground and a crackling fire inviting you to stay inside.

Well, if you live in Florida, keep dreaming. While Central Florida has had its weather extremes on Christmas, none have included a true White Christmas.

What You Need To Know

  • Climatologically, Central Florida has a 0% of a white Christmas every year

  • However, Christmas can be frigid by Florida standards on Christmas

  • Christmas 1983 was the coldest on record for most of Central Florida and the state

The climatological probability for Orlando and Central Florida to see snow is 0.0%!

But that doesn’t mean winter weather is completely out of the cards. Last year, some across Central Florida woke up to a “beat” of a sound outside, as sleet fell from the sky. 

There have been several cold outbreaks around Christmas in Central Florida and around the state. One most recently occurred in 2022 when temperatures dropped into the 20s and 30s Christmas morning. High temperatures only reached 46 degrees in Orlando that year, making it the coldest Christmas Day since 1983.

That also is the year that holds the record for the coldest Christmas for Orlando. The low temperature that year was 21 degrees.

In fact, the cold was felt statewide on this day in 1983. Northern Florida had temperatures dip into the teens.

Places like Tallahassee dipped to 14 degrees, with a high temperature of only 29 degrees. This was also Tallahassee’s coldest Christmas on record.

Jacksonville dropped to 11 degrees, with a high of only 30 degrees.

Miami was cold by Miami standards, but not as frigid as most of Florida. Miami had a high of 51 degrees on Christmas Day of 1983. If you’re wondering, the coldest temperature ever recorded in Miami is 27 degrees.

The cold outbreak of 1983 caused more than a half-billion dollars in damage to crops. It also led to six deaths across the state. The cold also led to several fires because of faulty heating units.

The warmest Christmas for Central Florida was pretty recent, and that was in 2015. This is when Orlando hit 86 degrees, with a low of 69 degrees. These temperatures are more typical of May rather than Christmas in Central Florida.

So what is the standard for Christmas Day in Orlando? The average high is 72 degrees, with an average low of 51 degrees.

Our team of meteorologists dives deep into the science of weather and breaks down timely weather data and information. To view more weather and climate stories, check out our weather blogs section.