Florida Cold Shot Coming Next Week

Florida will not be exempt from a blast of cold air set to plummet acrossthe entire eastern third of the United States by the end of this weekend.The cold shot will follow the snowstorm expected to parallel the East CoastSunday into Monday. While there is still some uncertainty as to how much snowwill blanket New England these two days, there is no doubt that chilly air willplunge into Florida.

The cold air will hold Sunday's temperatures about 15 degrees below highs thatare typical for Christmas Day across Florida. The exception will be SouthFlorida, but only for one day. The unseasonable chill will expand to Miami andKey West on Monday.

Gusty winds blowing across the state will create even colder AccuWeather.comRealFeel® temperatures.

To put the upcoming cold further into perspective, consider the fact that highsSunday into Monday will actually resemble typical late-December overnight lowtemperatures.

Miami, for example, is only expected to warm to 61 degrees on Monday. That isequal to the city's average low on Christmas Day.

The upcoming cold will do more than have residents and holiday vacationersshivering, it will likely make farmers nervous. Temperatures will dip well intothe 20s over northern Florida and will drop at least a few degrees belowfreezing across the interior of central Florida both Sunday and Mondaynights.

A bitter shot of cold air earlier this month already seriously damaged somevegetable crops in South Florida.

Story by AccuWeather.com Senior Meteorologist Kristina Pydynowski