‘Coldest time we’ll see, so far.’ Ready to freeze your you-know-what off in Florida?

We know it’s winter. You know it’s winter.

But, aside from a brief dip into the mid-50s on Dec. 23, only our calendars confirm the season.

That warm trend is finally going to end with the arrival of a cold front on Thursday. And we mean cold.

“It looks like this will be the coldest time we’ll see this year, so far. We haven’t seen the 40s yet,” said George Rizzuto, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami. “The region will finally get definitely a nice cool-down.”

So, here come the 40s.

Storms preceding cold front?

The chance for rain in South Florida was at its highest on Tuesday at 60%. Rain chances drop to 50% Wednesday night and 20% upon the front’s arrival Thursday.

A flash flood warning was issued for Downtown Miami and the surrounding area until 10 p.m. Tuesday “as repeated rounds of heavy rainfall have led to significant flooding on roadways,” the National Weather Service tweeted.

Flooding has already been seen in Brickell and Little Havana.

Rizzuto said storms are not expected just ahead of Thursday’s front. The lack of thunderstorms applies across the state.

“We do have a chance of rain mainly along the east coast through Thursday night,” he said. “Friday and Saturday, the coldest days, should be dry.”

How cold will it get?

Rizzuto says that it looks like Friday and Saturday will be the coldest days.

“Friday morning we’re looking at the upper 40s,” he said. Homestead could dip to 49 degrees. The Okeechobee area, too, should see the upper 40s.

The southern tips of Florida should expect the lower 50s for Friday morning and Saturday.

Key West could be warmer, near 60, Friday and Saturday, according to the weather service.

”Each day will be a little cooler,” Rizzuto said.

Bradenton and the Tampa Bay area were running about 10 degrees cooler than South Florida Tuesday, at about 60 degrees. By the weekend, the region should also hit the upper 40s into Sunday and just a high of 67 degrees on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday.

Tallahassee and Gainesville are looking at the mid-30s Sunday night, according to the weather service.

Steve MacLaughlin, NBC6’s meteorologist, said the last time South Florida saw a similar big cool-down was on Feb. 4, 2021, when it hit 44 degrees.

Why is it getting colder?

The steady dropping of temperatures is related to the current chill in other parts of Florida, like Tallahassee and Gainesville are already experiencing.

“We had a cold front move through yesterday,” Rizzuto said on Tuesday “So the cold that they’re seeing now is more of a result of that front. And then this next one — Thursday — is the one that’ll really push all these warm temperatures out of South Florida.”

On Tuesday, for instance, while Miami and Key West were at 70 degrees in the mid-morning, Tallahassee was at 45 degrees with a low of 38 expected Tuesday night. The low 40s will resume by the weekend in the state’s capital.

Gainesville was 50 Tuesday morning and will drop to 44 by nightfall. By week’s end, that temperature will drop to the upper 30s.

Tip: If you received some new sweaters or robes for the holidays, you may want to make sure they are ready to wear when that front arrives Thursday.

Marine conditions

The only hazardous weather outlook appears to be an elevated risk of rip currents at east coast beaches through the workweek, according to the weather service in Miami.

Marine conditions are expected to develop Tuesday as winds and seas increase ahead of Thursday’s cold front. High surf conditions are expected along the beaches of Palm Beach County Tuesday evening.