ORLANDO, Fla. — January started off abnormally warm with record high temperatures being set in a few spots along with dry conditions. This all changed as the month went along.

On January 1, Daytona Beach tied a record high temperature of 83 degrees that was first set in 1989. Daytona’s average high for the start of January is 68 degrees. That was 15 degrees warmer than average to start the New Year.

Melbourne set a new record of 86 degrees on January 4. The record broken was 85 degrees set in 2015. Melbourne’s average high to start the year is 71 degrees.

After this extremely warm beginning, a series of cold fronts started to sweep through Central Florida. These fronts ushered in cooler than average temperatures for the middle and especially latter portion of January.

The big severe weather event that produced straight-line damaging winds to property in Mascotte in western Lake County and an EF-0 tornado in Sanford happened on Thursday, January 24. This was along a strong cold front that also brought much needed rain to Central Florida.

This strong cold front was the beginning to the end of the abnormally dry weather we were experiencing for most of January.

Another storm system moved over Central Florida on January 27. This brought a cold, all-day rain event to Central Florida. Many areas set daily rainfall records including Orlando and Melbourne.

Orlando picked up 2.01” inches of rain that day breaking the old daily rainfall record of 1.74 inches that was set in 2016. This rainfall event produced more than 50 percent of the monthly total in just one day.

Melbourne also set a daily rainfall record of 3.74 inches breaking the previous record of 1.12 inches, which was also set in 2016. That is more than 80 percent of January’s rain falling in one day in Melbourne.

Here’s a detailed breakdown of January’s rainfall compared to average:

ORLANDO

  • January 2019 rainfall: 3.50”
  • Average rainfall: 2.35”
  • Departure from average: +1.15”
  • Percent of average: 149%

DAYTONA BEACH

  • January 2019 rainfall: 3.81”
  • Average rainfall: 2.74”
  • Departure from average: +1.07”
  • Percent of average: 139%

MELBOURNE

  • January 2019 rainfall: 4.47”
  • Average rainfall: 2.27” 
  • Departure from average: +2.20”
  • Percent of average: 197%

CLERMONT

  • January 2019 rainfall: 4.02”
  • Average rainfall: 2.91”
  • Departure from average: +1.11”
  • Percent of average: 138%

LEESBURG

  • January 2019 rainfall: 3.02”
  • Average rainfall: 2.74”
  • Departure from average: +0.28”
  • Percent of average: 110%

DELAND

  • January 2019 rainfall: 3.73”
  • Average rainfall: 3.04”
  • Departure from average: +0.69”
  • Percent of average: 123%

SANFORD

  • January 2019 rainfall: 3.07”
  • Average rainfall: 2.62”
  • Departure from average: +0.45”
  • Percent of average: 117%

TITUSVILLE

  • January 2019 rainfall: 4.21”
  • Average rainfall: 2.75”
  • Departure from average: +1.46”
  • Percent of average: 153%