Hot nights in South Florida: Nighttime low temperature set record high this weekend

Saturday night in South Florida was the hottest on record — in ways that have nothing to do with celebrities, nightclubs or Lionel Messi.

In National Weather Service readings taken in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, nighttime temperatures this weekend were among the warmest ever, with the overnight low early Saturday setting a new high for Nov. 11.

Hot nights led to warm days, with daytime temperatures near all-time records.

“It’s definitely been a warm weekend. Especially in the mornings when people wake up, they’ve probably noticed it’s been a little muggier and a little warmer than you would expect in November,” Robert Garcia, senior meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Miami, said on Sunday.

So if you felt a little drained during that early-morning run this weekend, it’s no wonder.

The typical morning low temperature for Nov. 11 in South Florida is 69 degrees. Miami was 81, its hottest overnight low on record by two degrees; West Palm Beach’s 78 also set a record by two degrees; Fort Lauderdale’s 78 was one degree more than the old mark. All three cities broke records set in 1979.

As for daytime highs, Miami was 89 degrees on Saturday, tying the record set in 2002. The normal temperature for Nov. 11 in Miami is 82. West Palm Beach came close to a historic high at 87, just off the record 88 set in 2002.

Fort Lauderdale’s 85 reading was between the normal 81 and the record 90 degrees set in 1952.

“Warm air, with lots of sunshine, will tend to do that. Overnight you don’t get anything to cool off that air coming off the Atlantic, which is fairly warm,” Garcia said. “You end up with these temperatures that build day in and day out until you get a cold front, or some rain, to break it up.”

Garcia said there is relief in the forecast: A cold front is on its way, with rain Wednesday and Thursday, and temperatures returning to normal for the weekend. He predicted mostly sunny skies, high temperatures in the low 80s and overnight lows in the upper 60s to low 70s.

“Right now it looks like next weekend might be a really nice one,” he said.

Staff writer Ben Crandell can be reached at bcrandell@sunsentinel.com. Follow on Instagram @BenCrandell and Twitter @BenCrandell.