What a wet September we had across Central Florida! It is thanks to Hurricane Irma along the west side of the peninsula on the early morning of Sept. 11.

  • Record rainfall in September
  • Hurricane Irma brought heavy rainfall, flooding

It gave us record rainfall, significant flooding, widespread damaging winds, and numerous tornadoes across east central Florida.  The heavy rain from Irma made our monthly rainfall totals well above normal with some spots seeing their top five wettest Septembers on record.

As has been the case most of this summer, the average low temperatures for the month showed a large departure from normal. The average highs were closer to normal but still ran around a half of a degree to a degree above normal. Orlando stayed pretty close to normal, but Melbourne tied its record for warmest September, previously reached in 2007, with an average temperature of 82.4.

Here are some of the temperature stats:

  • Orlando had a monthly average temperature of 81.0 degrees. That was 0.1 degrees below normal.
  • Daytona Beach had a monthly average temperature of 80.8 degrees. That was 1.3 degrees above normal. This ties 2016, 2005, 1991, 1973, and 1931 for having the 7th warmest average temperature for September on record.
  • Melbourne had a monthly average temperature of 82.4 degrees. That was 1.8 degrees above normal. This ranks as the warmest average temperature for the month of September, tying September 2007.

For rainfall, the total rain amounts from Irma were in the range of 7 to 12 inches for most of us here in Central Florida. There were heavier amounts down near the Fort Pierce area. The highest observed rainfall total from Irma was 21.66 inches at the Fort Pierce Water Plant! Daily rainfall records were eclipsed with Irma. Sanford, Melbourne and Fort Pierce set new all-time daily maximum rainfall records.

Here are the monthly records:

  • Daytona Beach set a record with 4.10 inches on Sept. 10.  The previous record was 2.42 inches last set in 1964.
  • Sanford set a record with 9.24 inches on Sept. 10. The previous record was 5.13 inches set in 1964. This is also the all-time daily maximum rainfall amount ever recorded for this site!
  • Orlando set a record with 6.61 inches on Sept. 10. The previous record was 3.63 inches last set in 1928.
  • Melbourne set 2 records! On Sept. 2 with rainfall of 4.62 inches. The previous record was 2.35 inches last set in 1977. Melbourne also set a record with 10.23 inches on Sept. 10. The previous record was 1.23 inches last set in 1992. This is also the all-time daily maximum rainfall amount ever recorded for this site.