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Miami sits on the southeastern tip of Florida, on a low coastal plain between the Atlantic Ocean and the Everglades, near the Tropic of Cancer at approximately 25.76°N, 80.19°W. It has a tropical climate (Köppen Aw, bordering Am) — the only major city on the US mainland with one — with hot, wet, humid summers and warm, drier winters, and effectively no cold season, its weather moderated year-round by the surrounding warm ocean.
The wet season, from May to October, is hot, humid and rainy, with highs around 32–33°C and warm nights, made sultry by high humidity though eased by sea breezes off the Atlantic. Almost daily afternoon thunderstorms build in the tropical heat, often heavy but short-lived. This season coincides with hurricane season, when the city faces the threat of tropical storms and hurricanes — Category 5 Hurricane Andrew devastated the area in 1992.
There is no true winter, but the dry season from November to April is the most pleasant time, warm and sunny with lower humidity, highs around 24–26°C and mild nights that rarely dip below the mid-teens — making Miami the warmest major city on the US mainland in winter and a magnet for 'snowbirds'. Genuine cold is essentially unheard of, and rain is much reduced.
Miami is very wet, receiving on the order of 1,550–1,600 mm of rain a year, overwhelmingly concentrated in the May-to-October wet season, when the shift to onshore winds brings moist tropical air and daily thunderstorms; the winter dry season sees far less. Live rainfall, humidity, and pressure readings for the city are shown in the panels above.
Hurricanes are the defining hazard of Miami's climate: sitting low and exposed on the southeastern tip of Florida, it is one of the most hurricane-prone major cities in the US, most at risk from August to October, when storms spinning across the warm Atlantic and Caribbean can bring destructive wind, storm surge and torrential rain. The rest of the year, the warm ocean gives the city its famously mild, sunny, tropical character.
To follow any single measurement in Miami more closely, use our live instruments: the online barometer for atmospheric pressure, the thermometer for temperature, the hygrometer for humidity, the anemometer for wind speed, the wind vane for wind direction, and the rain gauge for rainfall.