Winter Weather in Orlando Florida, United States

Daily high temperatures are around 73°F, rarely falling below 59°F or exceeding 83°F. The lowest daily average high temperature is 70°F on January 14.

Daily low temperatures are around 55°F, rarely falling below 39°F or exceeding 68°F. The lowest daily average low temperature is 52°F on January 19.

For reference, on July 22, the hottest day of the year, temperatures in Orlando typically range from 76°F to 91°F, while on January 15, the coldest day of the year, they range from 52°F to 70°F.

The figure below shows you a compact characterization of the hourly average winter temperatures. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the color is the average temperature for that hour and day.

Pāsighāt, India (8,529 miles away) and Nantou, Taiwan (8,536 miles) are the far-away foreign places with temperatures most similar to Orlando (view comparison).

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The winter in Orlando experiences essentially constant cloud cover, with the percentage of time that the sky is overcast or mostly cloudy remaining about 40% throughout the season. The highest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 44% on January 5. The lowest chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 37% on February 24.

The clearest day of the winter is February 24, with clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy conditions 63% of the time.

For reference, on July 7, the cloudiest day of the year, the chance of overcast or mostly cloudy conditions is 67%, while on May 1, the clearest day of the year, the chance of clear, mostly clear, or partly cloudy skies is 65%.

A wet day is one with at least 0.04 inches of liquid or liquid-equivalent precipitation. In Orlando, the chance of a wet day over the course of the winter is increasing, starting the season at 18% and ending it at 23%.

For reference, the year's highest daily chance of a wet day is 68% on August 8, and its lowest chance is 15% on November 21.

Rainfall

To show variation within the season and not just the monthly totals, we show the rainfall accumulated over a sliding 31-day period centered around each day.

The average sliding 31-day rainfall during the winter in Orlando is increasing, starting the season at 1.8 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.6 inches or falls below 0.2 inches, and ending the season at 2.6 inches, when it rarely exceeds 4.8 inches or falls below 0.6 inches.

Over the course of the winter in Orlando, the length of the day is rapidly increasing. From the start to the end of the season, the length of the day increases by 1 hour, 7 minutes, implying an average daily increase of 44 seconds, and weekly increase of 5 minutes, 11 seconds.

The shortest day of the winter is December 22, with 10 hours, 20 minutes of daylight and the longest day is February 29, with 11 hours, 34 minutes of daylight.

The latest sunrise of the winter in Orlando is 7:19 AM on January 11 and the earliest sunrise is 29 minutes earlier at 6:50 AM on February 29.

The earliest sunset is 5:28 PM on December 1 and the latest sunset is 57 minutes later at 6:25 PM on February 29.

Daylight saving time is observed in Orlando during 2023, but it neither starts nor ends during the winter, so the entire season is in standard time.

For reference, on June 21, the longest day of the year, the Sun rises at 6:28 AM and sets 13 hours, 58 minutes later, at 8:26 PM, while on December 22, the shortest day of the year, it rises at 7:14 AM and sets 10 hours, 20 minutes later, at 5:33 PM.

The figure below presents a compact representation of the sun's elevation (the angle of the sun above the horizon) and azimuth (its compass bearing) for every hour of every day in the reporting period. The horizontal axis is the day of the year and the vertical axis is the hour of the day. For a given day and hour of that day, the background color indicates the azimuth of the sun at that moment. The black isolines are contours of constant solar elevation.

The figure below presents a compact representation of key lunar data for the winter of 2023. The horizontal axis is the day, the vertical axis is the hour of the day, and the colored areas indicate when the moon is above the horizon. The vertical gray bars (new Moons) and blue bars (full Moons) indicate key Moon phases. The label associated with each bar indicates the date and time that the phase is obtained, and the companion time labels indicate the rise and set times of the Moon for the nearest time interval in which the moon is above the horizon.

We base the humidity comfort level on the dew point, as it determines whether perspiration will evaporate from the skin, thereby cooling the body. Lower dew points feel drier and higher dew points feel more humid. Unlike temperature, which typically varies significantly between night and day, dew point tends to change more slowly, so while the temperature may drop at night, a muggy day is typically followed by a muggy night.

The chance that a given day will be muggy in Orlando is rapidly decreasing during the winter, falling from 24% to 10% over the course of the season.

The lowest chance of a muggy day during the winter is 7% on January 31.

For reference, on July 21, the muggiest day of the year, there are muggy conditions 100% of the time, while on January 30, the least muggy day of the year, there are muggy conditions 7% of the time.

This section discusses the wide-area hourly average wind vector (speed and direction) at 10 meters above the ground. The wind experienced at any given location is highly dependent on local topography and other factors, and instantaneous wind speed and direction vary more widely than hourly averages.

The average hourly wind speed in Orlando is gradually increasing during the winter, increasing from 8.3 miles per hour to 9.2 miles per hour over the course of the season.

For reference, on March 10, the windiest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 9.4 miles per hour, while on August 4, the calmest day of the year, the daily average wind speed is 5.6 miles per hour.

The lowest daily average wind speed during the winter is 8.2 miles per hour on December 17.

The wind direction in Orlando during the winter is predominantly out of the north from December 1 to February 18 and the west from February 18 to February 29.

Orlando is located near a large body of water (e.g., ocean, sea, or large lake). This section reports on the wide-area average surface temperature of that water.

The average surface water temperature in Orlando is decreasing during the winter, falling by 4°F, from 72°F to 68°F, over the course of the season.

The lowest average surface water temperature during the winter is 68°F on February 28.

Definitions of the growing season vary throughout the world, but for the purposes of this report, we define it as the longest continuous period of non-freezing temperatures (≥ 32°F) in the year (the calendar year in the Northern Hemisphere, or from July 1 until June 30 in the Southern Hemisphere).

While it does not do so every year, freezing temperatures are seen in Orlando over some winters. The day least likely to be in the growing season is January 13, with a 70% chance.

Growing degree days are a measure of yearly heat accumulation used to predict plant and animal development, and defined as the integral of warmth above a base temperature, discarding any excess above a maximum temperature. In this report, we use a base of 50°F and a cap of 86°F.

The average accumulated growing degree days in Orlando are very rapidly decreasing during the winter, decreasing by 6,966°F, from 7,675°F to 709°F, over the course of the season.

This section discusses the total daily incident shortwave solar energy reaching the surface of the ground over a wide area, taking full account of seasonal variations in the length of the day, the elevation of the Sun above the horizon, and absorption by clouds and other atmospheric constituents. Shortwave radiation includes visible light and ultraviolet radiation.

The average daily incident shortwave solar energy in Orlando is rapidly increasing during the winter, rising by 1.5 kWh, from 3.5 kWh to 5.0 kWh, over the course of the season.

The lowest average daily incident shortwave solar energy during the winter is 3.4 kWh on December 21.

For the purposes of this report, the geographical coordinates of Orlando are 28.538 deg latitude, -81.379 deg longitude, and 98 ft elevation.

The topography within 2 miles of Orlando is essentially flat, with a maximum elevation change of 56 feet and an average elevation above sea level of 93 feet. Within 10 miles is essentially flat (157 feet). Within 50 miles also contains only modest variations in elevation (302 feet).

The area within 2 miles of Orlando is covered by artificial surfaces (98%), within 10 miles by artificial surfaces (94%), and within 50 miles by herbaceous vegetation (32%) and artificial surfaces (24%).