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Posted by Toe on 14:22:42 11/18/14
I was hearing the meteorologists on TV this morning talking about over half the country experiencing an Arctic blast with temperatures below freezing, and I chuckled that they obviously didn't include us down here. I began wondering whether it's normal to get really cold temps down here in Nov. I recall when I first got into astronomy going to Mahogany Hammock on Nov nights with temps in the 40's, and this was as late as the 1990's. But in recent years, it seems we don't get much cold until Jan, and little of that. I am also of the opinion that some typical winter species do not make it down here as they used to, such as Hermit Thrush, Canvasback, and many sparrows. Could we be seeing birds staying farther north in response to warmer temps during our winters down here? Just to add to this analysis, a look at the record temps for Nov shows that 13 of the record lows by date for Miami occurred before 1920, while 8 of the record highs occurred after 1990. The all-time record low for Miami for Nov occurred on Nov 21, 1914 at 36 degrees.
I choose Nov for a reason. As the first big fronts began to hit the rest of the country, birds start heading south pronto. This is when big movements of ducks and other stuff head south in response to the cold. Purple Sandpiper has been seen in our county before, but nor for several years, although they are still annual in parts up north. If we don't have the cold temps down here, they will stay farther north. We are already seeing this in the fish world. During the 1980's, King Mackerel were a staple catch in huge number all throughout south Florida during the winter months, and Nov was probably the best month of all. Word I get from both charter and commercial captains is that we haven't had a good winter kingfish run in years in our area, but they still make good catches off Cape Canaveral. If the fish are staying farther north in response to the weather, could the birds be doing the same? Does this sound plausible?
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