Sunshine State? Florida in the midst of its cloudiest winter on record. Here’s why

ORLANDO, Fla. – Cue the old Rose “Titanic” meme. It’s been 84 years.

We told you in September that this winter would be very different from a typical Florida winter -- and it has been.

Florida is the Sunshine State for a reason, but this winter has been anything but sunny. And the cloudy and stormy trend looks to continue for the rest of winter and into spring.

But just how different has it been?

Maps created by climatologist Brian Brettschneider show that Florida is in the midst of its cloudiest winter on record. Records go back 84 years.

The dark gray color on the map above shows areas that have observed their cloudiest winter over the last 84 years.

Typically, Central Florida sees around 50% cloud cover for the December-January time period. The winter of 2023-24, however, was 70 to 80%.

Diving deeper into the data we find that over 40% of afternoons last November were cloudy.

That is nearly double what it “should” be. December and January continued the cloudy and active trend.

And if you’re wondering why, all of this is thanks to a very active subtropical jet stream induced by El Nino.

During a strong El Nino, which the winter of 2023-24 is currently in, the jet stream blasting from the Pacific Ocean and over the Gulf of Mexico keeps the conveyer belt of moisture and disturbances flowing through Florida.

As of last week, in fact, the current El Nino entered Super El Nino territory, reaching a sea-surface temperature anomaly in the equatorial Pacific of 2.0 Celsius.

This puts the current El Nino among the strongest in recorded history.

El Nino is expected to rapidly wane by the upcoming summer, which could have big implications for the 2024 hurricane season.