4 Things You Must Know Before Moving to Florida [Weather Edition]

Alright. So, you get ready to move down to Florida so you get to enjoy the fabulous weather or maybe not so fabulous weather that we have down here. But it will be a bit different, especially if you live up north and it's quite changed during the fall and winter months. So, before you make that big move to Florida, let's talk about the 4 things that you must know before moving to Florida weather.

Alright. So, 4 things you must know before moving to Florida weather.

1. Jackets and knit hats

Jackets and knit hats and maybe scarves and gloves may still be a necessity. It does still get a little chilly in the fall, winter months, but not completely freezing and where everything is just frozen in the snows. And we might get a little frost here and there.

However, we don't need to stock up on those big funky coats with the hoods with the fur around it unless you're just really sensitive to the cold. But, it wouldn't necessarily need to be in your wardrobe here in Florida. But we do have chillier mornings, when I say chillier mornings, and like right now, it's October, it can be down to the 38. It was 38 this morning and it can go into the 40’s and still be in the 60’s to 70’s in the afternoon and November December time frame during the holidays. It can still be a little cold. Sometimes it could be in the 30’s, but then there are times where we're still in the 70’s even on Christmas day. So, that's what's beautiful about the Sunshine State. We really do have warm weather all year round with an exception of some of our cold fronts that come on through. But, definitely it's not like what it would be up north. Again, we don't have the snowstorm down here, which really leads me to number two.

2. Make sure you keep umbrellas on hand

Make sure you keep umbrellas on hand because we do have a lot of rain here in Florida. Sometimes it's expected, sometimes it's not. Whether you keep an eye on the weather channel or not, you could say that, you know, there's maybe 7% chance of rain and the next thing you know, it's thunderstorming or what it seems like thunder storming outside. That should be dramatic. But, it's really just, most of the times passing through. It'll be, you know, a little starboard rain cloud kind of making its way, making its rounds around the area. Some people are not prepared for that, so they could just, you know, run into a grocery store just to grab a few things and they come out. And all of a sudden, it's just pouring raining and they're not prepared for that. They don't have a jacket or a hood or an umbrella because they, again, it was sunshine when they first went in. So that's a little tricky out here. Happened to me before where I wasn't expecting rain. And then there's times where you watch the news and it's like, oh, it's 50% chance, 60% chance of rain during maybe 12 and 2 o'clock, and 12 and 2 o'clock runs or comes around and not a drop of rain. But then again, you might see a little something later on in the afternoon and you weren't expecting it then either. So, there's the rainy weather, rainy season can get a little tricky. Even during hurricane season, we might have you know, we have our watches where we need to keep an eye on which direction the hurricanes may go. But even if it we don't take the direct hit. There's, you know, a big chance that we'll get a lot of rain. So, again, if you need to still be out and about during that time. Just, again, keeping umbrellas on hand, keeping light jacket that there's a lot of people out of here in Florida that really don't care. And they are just out in the rain, doesn't they don't care if they get wet, because you'll eventually dry off. But there's a lot of women, especially myself and my hair, I don't want to get that wet all the time and, you know, come home looking like a hot mess because I got rain on in the morning. So, I spent the day looking at a mess because I wasn't prepared for rainy weather. But it comes and goes, again, if you have plans to spend a day out and about, but there's maybe 50% chance of rain. Don't let that ruin your plans because if it does rain, it's most likely just passing through, and then you can just carry on about which plans, whatever you might be trying to do outdoors. So, don't even worry about it. Again, rain is going to come and go here in Florida.

3. Summer Heat and Humidity

Let's talk about that summer heat and humidity that comes along with it. Of course, we do have lots of sunshine that brings a lot of those UV rays on us that we enjoy at the beach so much. However, there are times where it might not feel breezy enough at the beach, and you're sitting there and just sweating and sweating and sweating to where, of course, that's going to make you even more so want to go out into the into the water and have a great time. But even when the temperature is like 85 degrees, 90 degrees. With the humidity that we have here in Florida, that can make it feel like it's 100 degrees. That's the heat index would be real time. It would be in the hundreds, 102, 103 when the actual temperature is, like, 90, 95 even. Yes, we do get pretty, pretty hot out here in Florida. But again, there's a lot of people that's not really familiar of how the humidity may affect them. Some people don't handle it very well. They may fall a little ill. It seemed it happen before. But even when I was on the West Coast up in Seattle, Washington, even their 85-degree weather during the time that I just happened to be there when they had that heat wave. 85 degrees, and it's still about nowhere near as how 85 degrees with built in Florida. So it's a different kind of heat. You know what I'm saying? But, yes, to be prepared for the humidity, that makes the temperature feel so much warmer than what it actually is. You could run out to the mailbox and come back just dripping and sweat, or you could just take out the garbage, and you're just coming back and feeling like you just went for a run. But it gets pretty hot and sticky out here in Florida. So just make sure you're prepared for that. There's a lot of people that can't handle the heat due to even health conditions, that your body just don't really tolerate the heat as much. So, there's a lot of elderly people that I know that cannot handle the extreme heat and just have to have, like, extra window units in their rooms even though their AC is working fine. Just need that extra air circulating or fans in the room even with the AC running. So, of course, that's what's our utility bills are going to be much higher too because we do like to run our AC throughout the day and night. So, a lot of people ask about the transition between, you know, summer and winter. It's a a very slow transition. However, you just need to make sure that you, so here in Florida, the transition from the summer into the fall and winter is a very slow transition with, you know, in October, especially. It's a great probably my favorite month of the year because the weather just feels like it's really, really just perfect. And then my other favorite month would be March because you're kind of right there in the middle between being too cold or maybe it might be a little chilly too. But still, you know, have great days where you can be outside and not worry about being too cold or too hot, just right around March, April, and then, again, October, November time frame.

4. Pollen Season

One of the big things you need know about Florida weather is Pollen season. So, just make sure you stock up on those antihistamines if you do have an issue with allergies. Grass pollen season extends from April to October. Springtime in Florida, it's also known as tree pollen season. It can begin as late as December and run through May. So, you're talking about five or six months of pollen season versus a lot of people that's sensitive to that. So, just slightest bit of pollen should have their nose running, sneezing, eyes watering, have to stock up on the meds. And there's also the issue with our vehicles being covered in this nice yellow tint. So, you have a black vehicle, especially the pollen will definitely show people more on that. So, there's people that feel like they just need to wash their cars every day because of the pollen, it just gets so bad. But, I mean, it's great for the Florida trees because that's, you know, like a strong spring time for them to mate. But, there are trees that do produce more pollen than others. Some people may think that's the flowering trees that produce more pollen which is not exactly the case. But, some of the trees that are the main culprits of pollen during pollen season are the American Elms, Blue Jack Oaks, Bayberry trees and Maples and of course Pine trees as a big culprit when it comes to the pollen during the pollen season. So, just make sure if, you know, you have allergy issues or maybe if you visited Florida during pollen seasons and you know it's a lot to handle. You know, Florida might not be right for you, or really any of the southern states that have the issues with pollen and some people really just can't handle that spit too much even with the medication have. Some people just don't want to have that way of life and have to stay on meds throughtout 5-6 months of the year. Might not be that fun for them to have to do that. So, again, if you're okay with the pollen, just make sure you have your antihistamines to help you through those allergy issues.

Well, that's all I have as far as some of the things that you need to know before you move to the Florida weather. If you have any questions or want to know more about anything else here in Florida or the Fort Walton Beach Destin areas, please feel free to call/text us at 850.320.7757 or email us at Admin@WhittemoreGroupRE.com