Været i Fort Lauderdale i mars

Once we were in Fort Lauderdale in March and it was in the 40s.

Regulars are honest this month genuinely could go either way, one visitor's own account of spending the same birthday date some years in shorts and others in a full sweatsuit depending on which cold front happens to pass through. Our row backs that warm, still-humid read, 25.7C over 18.8C nights, with 78.6mm of rain across 6.6 days and humidity at 75 percent. Regulars are consistent this sits just south of the frost line, so a cold snap severe enough to threaten beach plans stays genuinely rare even in a colder-than-usual stretch. The city's Boat Parade around this time often gets lucky with balmy weather, though regulars note it isn't guaranteed. The sea sits at a warm, swimmable 25.9C. The record: 8.6 hours of sun, a 19.8 kph wind and AQI 40.

Regulars date the change precisely: the rainy season starts abruptly in the third week of May, which makes the first half of the month an extension of April and the second half something else. Even then it is not a washout - scattered afternoon showers that interrupt the beach for a few minutes rather than a lost day, and nothing like July or August. Our row shows the weight of it, 164mm across just 9.5 days, so eighteen millimetres at a time. Humidity has climbed to 75 percent and 30C reads as 33C, with a 19.5 kph breeze doing the work and a 27.5C sea. Book the early half if the choice is yours. The record: 11.3 hours of sun and AQI 44.

Regulars answer the water question with a range rather than a number: about 75F at the start of April and 80F by the end, which they call cool but swimmable and locals call not quite warm enough yet. Our seaTempC of 26.6C is that 80F, so it describes the back half of the month; the first week is a couple of degrees under it. Air is 28.7C over 22.2C at 71 percent humidity, reading as 30C, with a 21.1 kph breeze off the water. The crowd calendar matters as much: spring break peaks in March and early April and has largely gone north by the last week, which is the quietest good weather of the season. Rain comes in bursts, 122.2mm across 6 days. The record: 11.3 hours of sun and AQI 46.

February in Fort Lauderdale is beach and pool weather with one caveat regulars always attach: it is a gamble. The normal month sits around 75F - our row's 26C - but a strong front pushing down the peninsula can drop it into the 40s, and while they note that those snaps usually land in January rather than February, nobody promises. The sea runs about 73F, which our row puts at 25.6C: visiting Canadians find that warm enough to swim in and residents call it chilly. The other local note is that the evening can want more clothing than the day did, because of the ocean breeze, so a light jacket earns its place. The record: 19.4C nights, 5.4 precipitation days carrying 60mm, a 20.3 kph wind and 9.8 hours of sun.