Cold/Wind Chill — Metropolitan Miami-dade, Florida

2010-01-09 to 2010-01-10 · Metropolitan Miami-dade, Florida

Event narrative

A 77-year-old man died as a result of hypothermia. He and his 93-year-old roommate were found unresponsive in their non-heated apartment in the Little Havana section of Miami on Monday January 11th. Both men were taken to the hospital, where the 77-year-old died the following day. The older man recovered from the episode.

Wind chills dropped below 35 degrees and remained mostly in the 20s from the evening hours of January 9th through midday on January 10th. Temperatures dropped into the lower 30s during the early morning hours of January 11th.

Wider weather episode

A second and very strong arctic cold front moved through south Florida on January 9th. Very cold air of arctic origin in the wake of the front produced freezing temperatures and very low wind chills to all of south Florida. Freezing temperatures were noted over almost all of south Florida on the mornings of January 10th and 11th. Four consecutive nights of below freezing temperatures occurred over interior sections of south Florida from January 10th through January 13th.

The combination of this episode and the first one between January 1 and January 7 produced the coldest 12-day period of temperatures on record at several south Florida locations.

Crop damage was extensive and severe, with total damage estimates in excess of $500 million dollars area-wide. Thousands of customers experienced intermittent power outages during this period due to record-setting usage demands.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 212392. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.