Seminole County emergency shelters are on standby as temperatures are expected to heat up into health-hazardous territory.

The county enacted such plans twice last year, and once the year before, but this is the earliest it's had to do so in quite some time, said Alan Harris, the Seminole County emergency manager.

"It is concerning," he said. "I hope that this is not an indication, although it does appear that we're getting hotter faster and earlier. But I hope it's not an indication that we're going to be in this type of situation regularly. But we are trying to prepare for that just in case."

The Outlook

The National Weather Service in Melbourne released a hazardous weather outlook Tuesday indicating humidity could produce a heat index of 102 to 107 degrees in the afternoons.

The NWS alerted Central Florida county emergency managers that the heat index could rise to as high as 110 degrees.

"For those outdoors, drink plenty of water, take breaks in the shade, and if you feel unwell, seek air conditioning," the NWS stated.

Heat-related illness

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, heat-related illnesses occur when the body is unable to use its temperature-control system. Long exposure to extreme heat and a lack of fluids can lead to heat exhaustion — when the body feels weakness, over-sweating, headaches, nausea, and vomiting — or heat stroke — when the body is unable to produce sweat and its temperature swells to 106 degrees in 10 to 15 minutes. Heat stroke can cause death or permanent disability.

Looking to beat the heat in Central Florida?

From now and through the weekend, Seminole County has opened cooling stations at its libraries and some of its parks that A.C. cooled buildings. Visitors can come inside for food and water if they're feeling unwell.

"They can stay as long as they need to get out of the elements and get cooled off," Harris said.

Seminole also has emergency shelters in place in the event that there is a congregate senior living facility assisted living facility, or nursing home loses power or loses air conditioning, Harris said.

Volusia County is also taking heed of the heat and establishing safety options for those traversing the outdoors. The county has cooling stations in place at its 14 library branches. Those locations can be found here.

Orange County doesn't have any cooling stations or shelters in place but said the public was free to come into any of its community centers to escape the heat. Orange County also said it the Homeless Services Network of Central Florida is working with local non-profit organizations to provide cooling places.

Osceola, Brevard, and Lake counties also do not have any designated cooled places of refuge.

They say it’s not the heat, it’s the humidity. Well, right now it’s both.

The National Weather Service is forecasting highs in the 90s and a heat index above 100 degrees for Orange, Osceola and Seminole counties every day through at least Juneteenth on Monday.

That high heat index -- the combination of soaring temperatures and high humidity -- makes it more difficult for your body to cool itself.

And the Orange County Health Department is urging people to take precautions against heat stroke and heat exhaustion:

- First, stay hydrated.

- If you're older or medically vulnerable, stay in air-conditioning when you can.

- If you work outside, pace yourself and take frequent breaks. Wear a wide-brimmed hat and lightweight, light-colored clothing.

The department also urges people not to leave pets or children in parked cars. And people should make sure their outdoor pets have plenty of water and shade.

Floridians have been thawing since last week’s strong cold front, which brought frost and freeze conditions to much of the Florida Panhandle, North Florida, and parts of Central Florida. However, the new week may deliver another blast of cool temperatures and even some rain chances as two cold fronts approach from the west.

The first cold front is expected to push through the Florida Panhandle Sunday and approach the Peninsula late Sunday and overnight into Monday. This first front is not expected to be a significant rain maker with chances likely to be very scattered ahead of the cold front. However, the front will help to raise temperatures Sunday across the Sunshine State. Temperatures will range from the mid-70s in the Panhandle and North Florida. A few locations could even climb into the lower-80s for Sunday afternoon.

Once the first cold front moves completely through the state, a second and potentially more powerful one is expected to approach from the west. A low pressure system is anticipated to strengthen in the Plains Tuesday before quickly moving eastward towards the Florida Panhandle arriving during the late overnight. Precipitation chances will increase in parts of North and Central Florida on Wednesday as the accompanying cold front approaches. However, given how fast the low pressure system is moving, showers should be brief for most areas.

High pressure is expected to build in from the west after the passage of the second cold front beginning late Wednesday night and into Thursday. Clear skies and cooler temperatures will follow for the remainder of the week, with high temperatures ranging in the 50s for parts of the Panhandle, to the 60s for North and Central Florida. South Florida will continue to experience comfortable temperatures in the 70s.

A celestial event will also take place on Sunday night. Areas that see a minimal amount of cloud cover could be treated to the Geminid meteor shower, which will light up the sky beginning Sunday evening through dawn Monday, according to NASA. The best time to watch the shower will be at its peak at around 2 a.m EST.

Rarely does nature follow the precise flip of the calendar, but as hurricane season officially ends tonight, winter arrives in Florida.

The season's first freeze is likely across inland areas of the Florida Panhandle Tuesday morning, and subfreezing wind chills could dip as far south as the I-4 corridor in Central Florida.

A Freeze Warning is in effect tonight for all inland areas from Florida's Big Bend to Pensacola. Tuesday morning lows in the warned area will range from near 30 along the I-10 corridor to around 32 just a few miles from the coast. Temperatures are the beaches will fall to between 32 and 35. A Freeze Watch is in effect for Tuesday night and Wednesday morning across a large section of North Florida, when lighter winds and an even colder push of air will likely send the mercury below freezing in those locations.

A brisk north wind Monday night will send wind chills (what it will feel like) to the middle and upper 20s across most of the Florida Panhandle and North Florida by 7 am, and wind chills near or just below freezing are possible as far south as the outskirts of Orlando, Tampa and Lakeland.

This early winter-like air mass will make it all the way to South Florida as well, where Wednesday morning lows could fall to the lower 40s and upper 30s in outlying areas near Fort Myers, Naples, and Miami.

The cold snap will likely linger through Thursday, before temperatures gradually moderate back to normal for early December by the end of the week.

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A broken line of thunderstorms will be sweeping across Central Florida Monday, and some of the cells could produce damaging wind gusts up to 60 mph and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning. An isolated tornado or hail is also possible from the strongest storms, although those risks appear low at this time.

As of 9 am Monday morning, the strongest storms were located near a line from Palatka to Ocala to Citrus Springs. Radar data at the time strongly suggested damaging winds and frequent cloud-to-ground lightning was occurring with the cells in western Marion and southeastern Levy counties.

A Severe T-Storm Watch was issued around daybreak Monday morning for all of Central Florida. The watch includes the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg, Lakeland, Ocala, Orlando, Daytona Beach, Sarasota and Melbourne until 3 pm EDT.

CREDIT NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE

Forecast data and model simulations of future radar were in agreement that the line of strong storms would progress southeast toward the I-4 corridor by midday, then begin weakening as it moved toward Southwest Florida and the Treasure Coast Monday evening. Strong upper-level winds have been the primary driver of the potential severe weather, which have developed ahead of an approaching cold front from the northwest. These winds could make their way to the surface at times when the heaviest rain is falling. Dangerous cloud-to-ground lightning is also possible with the stronger storms.

The storm system and its attending severe weather risk is expected to weaken Monday evening over South Florida, leaving in its wake a much drier and quieter period of weather Tuesday and Wednesday.