East Central Florida - Thursday July 6, 2023: The Florida wet season pattern was enhanced by a predominant trough across the eastern U.S. and extension of the subtropical jet stream across the southern states during June 2023.
This led to scattered to numerous showers and storms across the area most days during the month, with brief periods of drier weather. Periods of strong to severe storms occurred across the region, with rainfall across east central Florida generally near to above normal for June. This increase in rainfall and cloud cover generally moderated temperatures, and average temperatures for June at all primary climate sites ended up within a degree of their normal values.
TEMPERATURES
Onshore flow in addition to a weak frontal passage on the 5th, kept temperatures near to slightly below normal for the first several days of June, with highs along the coast in the low to mid 80s and upper 80s to around 90 degrees inland. The subtropical ridge axis then shifted south for much of the rest of the month, with prevailing west to southwest flow often delaying or preventing east coast sea breeze development.
This allowed temperatures even at the coast to reach the mid 90s at times. However, a more active weather pattern with overall higher coverage of afternoon showers and storms and increased cloud cover did temper any increases in temperatures for the most part.
Highs were often in the upper 80s to low 90s for coastal locations and low to mid 90s across the interior. Overnight lows were generally in the low to mid 70s through the month, which is typical for the summer season. However, at times lows did drop below normal into the upper 60s with any drier air that moved into
the region.
Average temperatures for June 2023 did not deviate too far from normal, with Leesburg, Sanford, and Melbourne within a degree below normal, and Daytona Beach, Orlando, Vero Beach and Fort Pierce within a degree above normal. In fact, similar to May, any new daily temperature records this month were limited, with only a few warm minimum temperature records set or tied at the very end of June.
Still, even with June 2023 ending up near normal temperature-wise, the well above normal warmth during the winter and much of the spring has led to the January-June 2023 period to rank as the warmest to second warmest first half of the year on record at all sites except Fort Pierce.
Average Temperature Ranking January to June 2023
Daily Record Temperatures for the Month of June
Daytona Beach: June 28th: Tied record warm low of 78 degrees last set in 1953.
Leesburg: No daily temperature records set or tied.
Sanford: No daily temperature records set or tied.
Orlando: June 28th: Tied record warm low of 76 degrees last set in 2020.
Melbourne: No daily temperature records set or tied.
Vero Beach: No daily temperature records set or tied.
Fort Pierce: June 30th: Record warm low of 79 degrees. Previous record was 78 degrees last set in 2003.
Average temperatures for June 2023
(rankings provided if in the top 10)
- Daytona Beach had a monthly average temperature of 80.8 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.6 degrees above normal.
- Leesburg had a monthly average temperature of 81.0 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.9 degrees below normal.
- Sanford had a monthly average temperature of 81.4 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.5 degrees below normal.
- Orlando had a monthly average temperature of 82.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.9 degrees above normal.
- Melbourne had a monthly average temperature of 81.1 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.8 degrees below normal.
- Vero Beach had a monthly average temperature of 81.0 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.4 degrees above normal.
- Fort Pierce had a monthly average temperature of 80.5 degrees Fahrenheit, which was 0.6 degrees above normal.
RAINFALL
Tropical Depression Two that formed over the eastern Gulf of Mexico on the 1st of June (and start of the hurricane season) quickly strengthened to Tropical Storm Arlene. However, this system was
short-lived as it moved southward, weakened to a remnant low and then shifted eastward through the Florida Straits. Moisture that was pulled into the area with help from Arlene increased shower and storm coverage across east central Florida to start off the month, with onshore flow focusing much of this activity across the interior. Drier air then moved in behind a weak front on the 5th that limited convective development for a couple days.
For the rest of June, the surface subtropical ridge axis generally stayed south of the area due to a persistent trough setup across the eastern United States. This led to a predominant west-southwest flow focusing scattered to numerous afternoon and evening showers and storms across the region that pushed eastward and offshore. Strong to severe storms developed at times through June, especially from the 14th through the 23rd as developing El Nino conditions over the equatorial Pacific Ocean enhanced and extended the subtropical jet stream across the southern United States.
The unsettled weather pattern led to storms producing strong to locally damaging wind gusts up to 50-70 mph, and even hail up to 1-1.25 inches in diameter. Even before this period, on the 7th, a severe storm pushing offshore, produced a short lived EF-1 tornado (estimated winds up to 90-100 mph) across South Patrick Shores.
While coverage of showers and storms were typically near to above normal through much of the month, the scattered nature of storms and often times faster movement of this activity still led to varying rainfall totals for June. End of month rainfall amounts were typically between 5 to 10 inches for many locations, which was near to slightly above normal for the month. Some locations such as Okeechobee and southern Osceola counties, as well as the Vero Beach area had even higher totals up to 11 to 14 inches. Vero Beach airport actually received 11.20 inches for the month, tying June 1972 as the 8th wettest June on record for this site.
Daily Record Rainfall for the Month
Daytona Beach: No daily record rainfalls set or tied.
Leesburg: June 17th: Record rainfall of 2.34 inches. Previous record was 2.08 inches set in 1996.
Sanford: June 23rd: Record rainfall of 3.62 inches. Previous record was 1.87 inches set in 2000.
Orlando: No daily record rainfalls set or tied.
Melbourne: No daily record rainfalls set or tied.
Vero Beach: No daily record rainfalls set or tied.
Fort Pierce: No daily record rainfalls set or tied.
Rainfall totals for June 2023
(ranking provided if in the top 10)
- Daytona Beach received 6.16 inches of rain for the month, which was 0.78 inches below normal.
- Leesburg received 6.75 inches of rain for the month, which was 0.23 inches below normal.
- Sanford received 9.66 inches of rain for the month, which was 1.47 inches above normal.
- Orlando received 7.31 inches of rain for the month, which was 0.74 inches below normal.
- Melbourne received 6.00 inches of rain for the month, which was 1.10 inches below normal.
- Vero Beach received 11.20 inches of rain for the month, which was 4.44 inches above normal. This ties June 1972 as the 8th wettest June on record for this site, with records going back to 1942.
- Fort Pierce received 7.71 inches of rain for the month, which was 1.02 inches above normal.
Precipitation totals and rainfall statistics for June 2023
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