By
Kate Spinner
Summer afternoons in Florida are undoubtedly hot, but not quite as hot as they used to be, on average, in Sarasota.
A new analysis of the past three decades of temperatures shows Florida — especially Sarasota — bucking a pronounced warming trend nationwide.
At the Sarasota-Bradenton weather station, average high temperatures fell every month of the year and in some months by nearly two degrees. As a result, Sarasota's average high temperature for July will drop from 91.3 degrees to 89.8 degrees.
"It doesn't seem like a big deal, but when you integrate that over a whole year in terms of your heating bill or your crops, it really adds up," said Anthony Arguez, a physical scientist who managed the reanalysis of the nation's normal temperatures for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
