Record lows set in area

8:10 A.M.

Overnight lows broke standing records in both Gainesville and Ocala as successive cold fronts cast a freezing blanket over North Florida Wednesday.

The official low for Gainesville hit 28 degrees at the airport, said meteorologist Jason Hess. The reading dipped below the 31-degree record set for the city in 1951.

In Ocala, where forecasters had expected temperatures would be a few degrees warmer than in Alachua County, the low also hit 28 degrees. The Marion County city had previously reported a record low of 32 degrees.

Highs during the day should remain in the 50s in Alachua and Marion.

Hess said residents in both counties should expect more cold temperatures late Wednesday. Once again, those lows could be record-breaking.

Freezing temperatures in the two counties were predicted to hit 29 degrees overnight Wednesday.

A low of 30 degrees had been set on Nov. 20 in 1968 in Gainesville, the Weather Service reported, with Ocala temperatures dipping to 32 degrees on that date.

Hess said winds that kept frost from forming Tuesday won’t be as strong Wednesday night. That means residents could wake up to more frost as well as the cold Thursday morning.

6:00 A.M.

Residents likely will wake up to record-breaking cold today and Thursday morning, thanks to a freezing northern air mass.

"Unseasonably" cold temperatures about 20 degrees below normal settled into the area overnight, said meteorologist Jason Hess with the National Weather Service in Jacksonville. If temperatures hit predicted lows in the mid- to upper 20s, record low temperatures for Gainesville will be recorded on both nights.

A record low of 31 degrees was set on Nov. 19 in Gainesville in 1951 and a record of 30 degrees was reported for Nov. 20 in 1968, according to meteorologists.

A record low of 32 degrees had been previously recorded in Ocala on both dates, Hess said.

A double whammy of cold air plus conditions that maximize freezing temperatures have contributed to this week's plunging thermometers.

A cold front, followed by a reinforcing blast of cold air, moved into Florida, Hess said. The Canadian cold blanketed sections of the state and dropped temperatures Tuesday night.

It will be quickly followed tonight by light winds, dry conditions and clear skies, which allow temperatures to drop rapidly.

A hard freeze warning will be in effect early today until 9 a.m. for several area counties. The warning means temperatures will be less than or equal to 27 degrees for at least two hours. Counties that will be under the hard freeze warning include Alachua, Bradford, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, Lafayette, Levy, Suwannee and Union.

Temperatures in Alachua County were expected to range from 26 to 28 degrees Tuesday night. Lows should be just slightly warmer tonight at around 29 degrees.

Highs temperatures aren't expected to reach the 70s until Sunday.

Hess said early forecasts for the first half of Thanksgiving week show a return to cooler but normal temperatures with highs in the 70s and lows in the 40s.