Brace for season’s first cold blast arriving Sunday

Manatee and Sarasota residents can dust off those sweaters, jackets and even fuzzy leg warmers — temperatures are expected to drop Sunday to the lowest point of the fall season so far.

Low temperatures on Sunday are expected to drop into the 40s. Highs will hit their ceiling in the 60s.

“If you’re from Florida, people will be bundling up on Sunday. If you’re from Wisconsin, you’ll be wearing shorts,” Bay News 9 meteorologist Brian McClure said Wednesday. “Thursday night looks great, Friday night looks great, Saturday night looks great. You will not feel the front until Sunday. Sunday will be the cool, windy day.”

“It’s going to get colder, but it’s not going to be record levels or anything,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Andrew McKaughan.

According to McClure, the next couple of days will continue to be seasonably cool in the mornings and at night.

“We’ll have a warming trend the next couple of days, so it will be a little warmer in the afternoon,” he said.

The low temperatures on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings will be between the 50s and low 60s, and afternoon highs will begin to climb to the low 80s, McClure added.

“They’re cool,” he said of the expected low temperatures through Saturday. “Most Floridians define 50s as cool.”

There is no chance of rain anywhere in sight, according to the meteorologist.

The cold weather doesn’t faze Manatee County residents like Jennifer Cascardo.

“Forty degrees to me, being from New York, is yippee ki-yay weather because I get to wear my boots, a sweater, jean jacket — anything that feels like layers of clothing,” said Cascardo, a resident of the city of Anna Maria for more than 30 years.

Cascardo, the founder and CEO of local multimedia production company Sugar Beach Digital, said she is out of town this week but would be “ecstatic” to experience the cold weather on Sunday.

“I love to walk on the beach when it’s cold,” she said. “I really embrace any seasonable change in Florida because I grew up in a four-seasons state.”

Mary Manion, a member of the Anna Maria Garden Club, said she’s not worried about this weekend nor does she think the temperatures will affect a garden sale the club plans on holding Saturday.

“I’m used to temperatures that vary,” she said. “It’s coming up on winter so it is what it is ... we live with it.”

This story was originally published November 16, 2016 at 8:47 PM with the headline "Brace for season’s first cold blast arriving Sunday."