After December heat wave, cooler weather comes to Manatee

MANATEE -- After the warmest December on record, Manatee County residents and tourists will enjoy nearly a full week of cooler weather mixed with just small chances of rain and sunny skies starting Monday.

The cooler weather actually began late Saturday and early Sunday when a front passed through on the way to Cuba, bringing 60 degree temperatures and an all-day rain Sunday.

But that rain is going to disappear for most of the upcoming week, leaving very nice days and nights for outdoor activities Monday through Thursday, local meteorologists said.

The brisk and dry weather is expected to end Thursday when temperatures are expected to rise into the high 70s and rain chances will increase.

"We are looking at our longest run of cooler weather so far this winter," Diane Kacmarik, a Bay News 9 meteorologist, said on Sunday.

On Monday, as the front clears out, Manatee will experience temperatures ranging from the mid-50s to upper 60s with just a small chance of rain, said John McMichael, a National Weather Service meteorologist based in Ruskin.

Tuesday will have a low in the mid-40s and a high in the lower 70s and is expected to be dry, McMichael added.

Wednesday will warm up a bit with lows in the lower 50s and highs in the upper 70s with just a moderate chance of showers, McMichael said.

Thursday will be partly cloudy with temperatures continuing to climb from the upper 60s to upper 70s.

The chances of significant rain doesn't reappear until Thursday night and into Friday, which has a 50 percent chance of rain, McMichael said.

"This week will have some really delightful weather with cooler temperatures and sunny skies," McMichael added. "The lower humidity will feel really nice."

The weather shift comes after a December in Sarasota and Manatee which set the all-time record for highest average temperature in a December with a 72.8 degree average, McMichael said.

"The normal average for December in Manatee County is 63.5 degrees so this past December was 9.3 degrees above normal," McMichael said.

The entire year just past also will go into the history books as the warmest 365 days in history, McMichael added.

"For 2015, we were 75.2 in Manatee and Sarasota as an average," McMichael said. "The normal is 72.9. This is the warmest year dating back to 1911."

Despite the warm conditions so far this winter, McMichael predicts mid to late January, February, March and the first part of April will still feature the bitter cold and wet weather that is normal for the area and can send farmers scurrying to protect their strawberry crops.

"We are in an El Nino pattern so we would assume we would get that kind of weather several weeks from now," McMichael said.

Richard Dymond, Herald reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7072 or contact him via Twitter@RichardDymond.

This story was originally published January 3, 2016 at 11:51 PM with the headline "After December heat wave, cooler weather comes to Manatee."