Very dry conditions across South Florida, especially interior sections, allowed a wildfire to burn in inland Broward County for several days. The fire quickly spread and lingered due to a lack of rain and gusty winds.
Every event with a place to put it; 1 filed by county or forecast zone are drawn at its center, in a lighter ring. Tap one for its entry below.
Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.
The episode as NWS MFL wrote it up.
Very dry conditions across South Florida, especially interior sections, allowed a wildfire to burn in inland Broward County for several days. The fire quickly spread and lingered due to a lack of rain and gusty winds. Smoke from the fire produced very low to no visibility in the area periodically over the course of the fire's lifespan.
The local office's own words before the first event, as it sent them, from the Iowa Environmental Mesonet's archive of National Weather Service text.
NWS Miami, FL wrote its last area forecast discussion before the first event at Mar 12, 6:50 PM EST, 28 minutes earlier.
Area Forecast Discussion...UPDATED National Weather Service Miami FL 750 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 ...New UPDATE/AVIATION... .UPDATE... Issued at 750 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 High pressure will continue to move eastward into the Atlantic waters from the Florida Peninsula tonight allowing for a cold front over Northern Florida to move southward and through South Florida on Monday night. Ahead of the front, the winds will be south to southwest tonight into Monday bringing in moisture to South Florida. This moisture will allow for some patchy fog to develop over the northern interior areas late tonight into early Monday morning. There is also a wildfire that is currently burning over the northern interior areas of Broward County. With the southwest wind flow tonight, the smoke from the wildfire will drift east northeast and could move into the NW areas of metro Broward County. Therefore, Patchy fog has been added to the forecast for the northern interior areas tonight along with patchy some for the northern interior and NW metro areas of Broward County. POPs for Tuesday has also been adjusted a little bit with the highest POPs now over the Lake Okeechobee and Palm Beach County regions tapping down to slight chance over the southern region of South Florida. It still looks like the best change of seeing a few strong storms will be over the northern areas of South Florida Monday afternoon into Monday evening where the better dynamics are located due to the 30-40 kt effective bulk shear. Tides are running a little above normal this evening along both coast and this will continue into Monday. This could lead to an isolated coastal flooding along both coast during high tides. Rest of the forecast looks good at this time and no other changes are planned. && .AVIATION... Winds will remain southwest around 5 mph over the TAF sites tonight. The weather should remain dry tonight over the TAF SITES along with VFR conditions. There could be some fog over the interior areas late tonight, but should remain away from the TAF sites. && .SHORT TERM... (Rest of today through Monday) Issued at 113 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 Afternoon analysis shows surface low pressure over the SE states, and weak high pressure in control locally. At the upper levels, there is a longwave trough over the northern and central US. This trough is expected to become negatively tilted over the next day as it progresses eastward. Meanwhile, the surface low over the SE states will move off the SE coast tonight and progress to the NE and be off the Mid Atlantic coast by Monday evening. A cold front associated with this system will drag across the state of FL during the day on Monday crossing South Florida during the evening hours. Warm southerly flow today ahead of the front has allowed temps to easily make it into the low to middle 80s across the coastal metro areas, and upper 80s over interior South FL. Cumulus clouds dissipate after sunset this evening and we'll start mostly clear with some clouds moving in late from the north well ahead of the front. Overnight lows range from the lower 60s inland to around 70 near the coast. W/SW flow on Monday ahead of the front will allow temps to quickly heat up, especially across the east coast metro. The record high for tomorrow is 91 at both MIA and FLL and will be within reach. The record at PBI is 93 which will be tougher to approach. Winds will be breezy ahead of the front, with gusts of 20-30 mph during the afternoon into early evening. Scattered showers and thunderstorms are expected to develop ahead of the front during the afternoon and continue into the evening. Looking at forecast soundings and latest hi-res guidance, severe parameters aren't very impressive, but if ideal conditions can be realized it's possible that a few storms may be borderline strong to severe, with hail and damaging winds the main threats. High temps on Monday will range from the middle 80s near the Gulf coast, to upper 80s and around 90 interior and East coast metro. && .LONG TERM... (Monday night through next Saturday) Issued at 309 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 The cold front will arrive into South Florida Monday night into Tuesday with enhanced lifting created by the front, which increases precipitation chances for Monday night and Tuesday particularly in the far southern portions of the region. The front will help destabilize the atmosphere and lead to a chance for a few thunderstorms as well through Tuesday. Winds will shift to a more northerly direction as the front passes Monday night. For Wednesday, a shortwave trough is expected to advect into Florida from over the Gulf of Mexico and will help provide forcing for ascent but surface high pressure over the eastern U.S. will inhibit convective potential also. Therefore, while there will be enough forcing created by the shortwave, the presence of the surface high will likely prevent any shower or thunderstorm potential limited. This is especially true with restricting the widespread nature of convective activity. However, still expect some scattered showers to develop through the day on Wednesday as the trough moves through on Wednesday. After Wednesday and into the end of the week, synoptic- scale ridging amplifies over the southeastern U.S. and would lead to a return of warm and dry weather to end the week and begin next weekend. The next potential front then may arrive later in the weekend. Temperature wise, a brief cool down occurs behind the frontal passage for Wednesday and Thursday with highs only reaching the mid to upper 70s. Coolest temperatures will be Thursday morning with low 60s near the east coast and low 50s in the interior. Temperatures then rebound to end the week near 80 on Friday and mid 80s on Saturday. && .AVIATION... (18Z TAFS) Issued at 113 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 Mainly VFR through the 18Z TAF period. Breezy S/SE winds this afternoon with occasional gusts around 20 kts through early this evening. Winds shift S/SW this evening and become light overnight. SW winds pick up on Monday ahead of an approaching cold front with gusts of 20-25 kts from late morning into the afternoon. SCT showers expected late in the period. Have VCSH in at all locations except TMB after 16Z Monday. Thunder is also possible but chances are too low to pinpoint this far out so left mention out for this issuance. && .MARINE... Issued at 309 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 High pressure will be moving eastward into the Atlantic waters tonight allowing for a cold front to move southward on Monday and through South Florida Monday night. This will allow for the winds to swing from a southwest direction tonight into Monday to a northerly direction on Tuesday. Wind speeds will remain at 15 knots or less in both the Atlantic and Gulf waters through Tuesday, except for the Atlantic waters where the winds will be 15 to 20 knots on Monday. Northerly swell of 1 to 4 feet in the Atlantic waters of South Florida early this week along with the moderate to breezy winds will allow for the Atlantic seas to be 3 to 5 feet except up to 7 feet on Tuesday. Gulf seas below 2 feet through Monday night then increase to 2 to 4 feet on Tuesday behind the passage of the cold front. Therefore, an SCEC conditions will more likely be needed for Monday into Monday night and possible SCA conditions on tuesday for the Atlantic Waters of South Florida. && .BEACHES... Issued at 113 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 There is a high risk for rip currents across the Atlantic coast beaches today. The elevated risk of rip currents will continue through at least the middle of the week. && .FIRE WEATHER... Issued at 309 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 Dry air will be working into South Florida on Tuesday behind the passage of a cold front. This will allow for the relative humidity to fall down into the lower to mid 30s over the western interior areas of South Florida on Tuesday. However, the 20 foot winds will only be in the 5 to 10 knots range during this time frame. Therefore, plan on not issuing any fire weather watches for Tuesday over South Florida and will continue to monitor the latest short range models. && .PRELIMINARY POINT TEMPS/POPS... Miami 72 90 69 82 / 0 30 20 40 West Kendall 69 89 66 84 / 0 20 20 40 Opa-Locka 70 90 67 83 / 0 30 20 30 Homestead 69 87 66 83 / 0 20 20 40 Fort Lauderdale 71 89 68 80 / 0 40 30 30 N Ft Lauderdale 71 89 68 81 / 0 50 30 30 Pembroke Pines 71 90 67 83 / 0 30 20 30 West Palm Beach 69 90 66 78 / 0 60 30 10 Boca Raton 70 89 66 81 / 0 50 30 20 Naples 72 82 64 81 / 0 30 30 10 && .MFL WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES... FL...High Rip Current Risk through Monday morning for FLZ168-172-173. AM...None. GM...None. && SHORT TERM...CMF LONG TERM....Redman AVIATION...BNB
Hazardous Weather Outlook National Weather Service Miami FL 400 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 AMZ610-630-650-651-670-671-FLZ063-066>075-168-172>174-GMZ656-657-676- 132000- Lake Okeechobee-Biscayne Bay- Coastal waters from Jupiter Inlet to Deerfield Beach FL out 20 NM- Coastal waters from Deerfield Beach to Ocean Reef FL out 20 NM- Waters from Jupiter Inlet to Deerfield Beach FL from 20 to 60 NM- Waters from Deerfield Beach to Ocean Reef FL from 20 to 60 NM excluding the territorial waters of Bahamas-Glades-Hendry- Inland Palm Beach-Metro Palm Beach-Coastal Collier-Inland Collier- Inland Broward-Metro Broward-Inland Miami-Dade-Metro Miami-Dade- Mainland Monroe-Coastal Palm Beach-Coastal Broward-Coastal Miami- Dade-Far South Miami-Dade- Coastal waters from Chokoloskee to Bonita Beach FL out 20 NM- Coastal waters from East Cape Sable to Chokoloskee FL out 20 NM- Waters from Chokoloskee to Bonita Beach FL from 20 to 60 NM- 400 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 ...High Risk of Rip Currents for the Atlantic Coast Beaches... This Hazardous Weather Outlook is for Atlantic, Biscayne Bay, South Florida, Gulf of Mexico and Lake Okeechobee. .DAY ONE...This afternoon and tonight. Rip Currents: There is a high risk for rip currents across all of the Atlantic Coast beaches. .DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...Monday through Saturday. The elevated risk of rip currents will likely continue through the middle of the week. A cold front will cross South Florida late Monday. Scattered showers and isolated thunderstorms will be possible as the front approaches our area. A few storms may contain hail and strong winds, especially around the lake region. Cooler temperatures are expected mid week, with minimum apparent temperatures falling into the upper 40s over interior portions of South Florida. Concerns for fire weather increase mid to late week as relative humidities could drop below threshold criteria behind the frontal passage. .SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT... Spotter activation is not expected at this time.
Special Weather Statement National Weather Service Miami FL 816 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 FLZ067-071-130415- Inland Palm Beach-Inland Broward- Including the cities of Pahokee, South Bay, Belle Glade, Wellington, Lion Country Safari, South County Regional Park, Miccosukee Indian Reservation, and Markham Park 816 PM EDT Sun Mar 12 2023 ...US 27 IS CLOSED BETWEEN I-75 AND MIAMI-DADE/BROWARD COUNTY LINE DUE TO SMOKE ON THE ROADWAY... US Highway 27 is closed from I-75 to Broward and Palm Beach County line due to smoke from a wildfire in northern interior area of Broward County. The smoke from the wildfire is covering the roadway reducing the visibilities. Baxter
The national radar mosaic for the moment the first event began.
1 wildfire. Local standard time, as filed.
Reports of road closures, including a 40-mile stretch along Highway US-27, due to smoke from the Mile 31 Wildfire. The source of the fire is unknown. The total acreage of the fire was 13,500 acres.
After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.
Every storm in Florida in 2023Every state in 2023This day in weather historyWarnings in Florida, March 2023
NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 1086664.