Very New to Snowbirding Florida Question Please

pjsky wrote:
Why go to Florida? Come to Cocopah Resort in Yuma AZ. It has the most "bang for the buck". Florida is much more expensive and is very humid.

High humidity is not a concern at all during the "Snowbird" season. Different story during the summer months though.
Barney

pjsky wrote:
Why go to Florida? Come to Cocopah Resort in Yuma AZ. It has the most "bang for the buck". Florida is much more expensive and is very humid.

I guess that depends on what one considers
the best bang for his buck.

Why go to Florida? Come to Cocopah Resort in Yuma AZ. It has the most "bang for the buck". Florida is much more expensive and is very humid.

You snowbirds do it right. You come to Florida when we have the best weather than leave when your home state has the best weather. There is only so much space south of the imaginary line from Tampa to Orlando. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the northern part of the state may only be in the 50s and 60s but it still beats zero where your coming from. Remember the further south you go the more money it will cost you.

rkassl wrote:
We are trying to go south for our first winter. I have spent many hours on the internet researching out rv resorts for Florida. Today I received a call from a rv resort around Navarre, Florida in the panhandle area. I was surprised that the average temps are around the mid 50's for Dec, Feb and March. Is this what I can expect for the whole state? I sure thought that it was much warmer down there. How far south in Florida must you go for 60' to 70's?

No, all Fla is not that cold. We winter in the Ocala area. The days are in the 60s and 70s in Dec Jan and Feb. Perfect for us. Nights can be cold, down in the low 40s and 50s. Later Feb starts warming up more at night. By March the days can be in the high 70s and 80s, 60s at night. The further south you go in Fla the warmer and more costly it is.

Any suggestions for a good place to go with a 40' 5th wheel trailer that is worth the price as far as amenities and weather.

If I can't get this put together soon, I may be using the snow shovel again this year! :-)

We're staying at Ben's Hitching Post in Silver Springs 12 miles east of Ocala this coming winter. About $220 a month but no 50 AMP.

I stick to my analysis; and, stay solid on: forget temperature averages for people trying to decide on a 10 year plan for warm weather within which to boondock in the North Ameican south.

Unfortunately for North Americans, we can expect much of the same freezing (read: far below average) temperatures in north Florida and the Rio Grand Valley for the coming 2, 3 or 4 winter season-years.

We are currently in solar cycle 24 (SC24); and were/are (by scientific instrument measurement) heading/and indeed into a strong solar minimum (e-mail me privately if you want to know the specifics; and, see my past post statistics in Snowbird Forum on just how below average north Florida has gotten, by city/region) thus the past far below average 3.x past winters in the North American south. In fact, SC24 is the weakest solar cycle in at least a century. So, through complex climatic interactions and blocking, we see the northern jet dropping way far south into central Florida very, very often over the past several years (if you are north of the jet, you have Arctic air mass to deal with).

Anyhow, if ya want to give north Florida a try this winter in an RV, be my guest :B Just be ready to abandon ship at some point for parts south of Vero-->Tampa latitudes...

I'd suggest you make a couple reservations to different areas if this is your first time. Then you can see where you like it best.

silversand wrote:

4x4 Dodger wrote:
I am sorry but I don't know what panhandle you are referring to but here are the average temperatures for Pensacola, Fla:

....forget about "averages"; in reality, we have entered a climate period where averages are really meaningless at the human time scale. Hard working people who have saved all their lives, and have perhaps only 10 or 15 years of healthful travel time left within which to snowbird, want to know that 3 or 4 out of 10 years of snowbirding in Florida (or, Rio Grand Valley, or southern Arizona) will not be spent shivering in their RVs for a month or two (or forbid, 3 or 4 months). Snowbirders want a guarantee that when they spend $10,000 of their hard-earned money for 4 months "down south" in Florida, they get 98% certainty of temperatures above say, 50F during evenings, and 68F during daytime (my assumption; right or wrong). If you were camping anywhere in the "Panhandle" over that past 4 winters, you would have experiences about 66%% of your winter (~3.2 months) with temperatures in the low to mid 30s F at night (and numerous in the 20s F), and low 40s to mid 50s F during the day. Compounding this terrible statistic, you would have been pummeled by high humidity winds making the real-feel even colder "feeling" than that.

Follow the advice of the several Florida residents (on this Forum), and take their "...snowbird south of Orlando/Tampa..." very, very seriously.

Studying the Office of Florida Climate Center, Florida has experience NUMEROUS arctic-like periods; on a quick search, Tallahassee to Avon Park have had temperatures from -2F (!!) to a balmy 20F about every 12 to 15 years since 1894; Fort Myers has had similar at the same temporal intervals (27F to 33F).

Although many people head south to escape the cold in the winter, it isn't always warmer in Florida. When an intense low pressure system is followed by a strong high pressure system, particularly powerful invasions of cold air may occur in Florida. These cold air outbreaks can produce below-freezing temperatures and are usually accompanied by strong winds that can produce bitterly cold wind chills. (Florida Climate Center)

Contrary to popular belief, it does snow in Florida. The first documented account of snow in Florida was reported in 1774. During the Great Arctic Outbreak, which was responsible for one of the biggest widespread snow events in the state, snow measured up to 3 inches deep in numerous Panhandle communities (Florida Climate Center)

...there have been more than 80 months in which at least a trace of snow has been reported somewhere in the state. (Florida Climate Center)

2010: A mix of snow and sleet was reported in Jacksonville, with a freezing fog event around midnight. Tallahassee, Gainesville, and other locations in the northern peninsula reported flurries during the day.

When I say "...very, very cold in the Panhandle...", I am referring to from the perspective of Florida and Floridians, not for Canadian standards. For Canadians, we don't want even a chance of 30s or 40s F during snowbirding season (unless, like us, we have a comfortable well heated condo to take shelter in for days or weeks at a time).

First I am not making any assumptions about what the OP wanted as you did. But I do think they deserve FACTS. And despite what you may think Averages are important and they are reality. In fact weather wise they probably give a more accurate picture of what you can expect at any given time than any other mathematical way of expressing the same data. (This is why it is so often expressed this way)

The fact that Florida has experienced cold periods pass through every 12 to 15 years is hardly reason enough to describe the panhandle as "very very cold" the weather in th panhandle is TEMPERATE, Minot is very very cold.

Also when the weather does get a bit chilly in Florida it tends to last for a day or two and the good stuff returns.

I think it's unfair to the Orig. poster asking a question to skew the facts so outlandishly and leave the impression that you did. While you live in Montreal I have lived on the Gulf Coast both at Mobile and at Biloxi, all on the same latitude as Pensacola. I think I can speak from a position of some reasonable experience.

While the suggestions of many to stay south of I-4 is pretty good advice, we have found family closeness keeps us in the Lady Lake/Leesburg area.

There have been less than 10 days over the past several years where I donned long pants and none where I wore anything heavier than a sweatshirt.

We are close enough to either coast to make a day trip of that and can do the same of all of the Orlando attractions if desired.

Lower to mid range prices for sites and being near to the Villages offers many things to do that are more varied than other areas. Certainly lots of places to eat and shop.

4x4 Dodger wrote:
I am sorry but I don't know what panhandle you are referring to but here are the average temperatures for Pensacola, Fla:

....forget about "averages"; in reality, we have entered a climate period where averages are really meaningless at the human time scale. Hard working people who have saved all their lives, and have perhaps only 10 or 15 years of healthful travel time left within which to snowbird, want to know that 3 or 4 out of 10 years of snowbirding in Florida (or, Rio Grand Valley, or southern Arizona) will not be spent shivering in their RVs for a month or two (or forbid, 3 or 4 months). Snowbirders want a guarantee that when they spend $10,000 of their hard-earned money for 4 months "down south" in Florida, they get 98% certainty of temperatures above say, 50F during evenings, and 68F during daytime (my assumption; right or wrong). If you were camping anywhere in the "Panhandle" over that past 4 winters, you would have experiences about 66%% of your winter (~3.2 months) with temperatures in the low to mid 30s F at night (and numerous in the 20s F), and low 40s to mid 50s F during the day. Compounding this terrible statistic, you would have been pummeled by high humidity winds making the real-feel even colder "feeling" than that.

Follow the advice of the several Florida residents (on this Forum), and take their "...snowbird south of Orlando/Tampa..." very, very seriously.

Studying the Office of Florida Climate Center, Florida has experience NUMEROUS arctic-like periods; on a quick search, Tallahassee to Avon Park have had temperatures from -2F (!!) to a balmy 20F about every 12 to 15 years since 1894; Fort Myers has had similar at the same temporal intervals (27F to 33F).

Although many people head south to escape the cold in the winter, it isn't always warmer in Florida. When an intense low pressure system is followed by a strong high pressure system, particularly powerful invasions of cold air may occur in Florida. These cold air outbreaks can produce below-freezing temperatures and are usually accompanied by strong winds that can produce bitterly cold wind chills. (Florida Climate Center)

Contrary to popular belief, it does snow in Florida. The first documented account of snow in Florida was reported in 1774. During the Great Arctic Outbreak, which was responsible for one of the biggest widespread snow events in the state, snow measured up to 3 inches deep in numerous Panhandle communities (Florida Climate Center)

...there have been more than 80 months in which at least a trace of snow has been reported somewhere in the state. (Florida Climate Center)

2010: A mix of snow and sleet was reported in Jacksonville, with a freezing fog event around midnight. Tallahassee, Gainesville, and other locations in the northern peninsula reported flurries during the day.

When I say "...very, very cold in the Panhandle...", I am referring to from the perspective of Florida and Floridians, not for Canadian standards. For Canadians, we don't want even a chance of 30s or 40s F during snowbirding season (unless, like us, we have a comfortable well heated condo to take shelter in for days or weeks at a time).