The February 2026 Freeze in Vero Beach

The coldest reading of the outbreak came at dawn on Sunday, February 1, 2026, when the thermometer at the Vero Beach Regional Airport fell to 26 degrees.

In its Record Event Report that morning, the National Weather Service office in Melbourne said the reading broke the daily record of 29 degrees set in 1966 and also set a new record low for the month of February at the Vero Beach Regional Airport. The previous February record there was 28 degrees, set on February 24, 1989.

Two more record mornings followed in Vero Beach. The airport bottomed out at 27 degrees on February 2, breaking a record of 34 degrees last set in 1980, and at 31 degrees on February 3, one degree under the 1976 record of 32. Each of those mornings got its own Record Event Report from the Melbourne office, and the daily climate reports mark all three lows with an R, the code the office uses for a record set or tied.

The NWS daily climate reports for Vero Beach, which draw on a record period from 1942 to 2026, show how far the days fell below normal.

On February 1 the high reached only 47 degrees, at 4:48 p.m., against a normal high of 74, and the daily average of 37 degrees was 26 below normal. The minimum of 26 was logged at 7:38 a.m. That 47 degree high was itself a record: the Melbourne office reported it broke the record cool maximum for the date at Vero Beach, 56 degrees, set in 1966.

February 2 was only a little milder in Vero Beach, with a high of 56 and a low of 27 at 4:48 a.m., for a daily average of 42 degrees, 22 below normal. On February 3 the low of 31 came early, at 1:01 a.m., and the afternoon recovered to 65, leaving a daily average of 48. No rain fell at the airport on any of the three days. February 1 was also the windy day: the station logged a top gust of 34 mph from the west, and relative humidity dropped to 18 percent at 4 p.m.

The swing was sharp because January had ended warm. One week earlier, on January 25, 2026, the same Vero Beach Regional Airport station recorded a high of 87 degrees, breaking the date's record of 86 set in 2023, according to a separate NWS Record Event Report.

The cold arrived in a dry winter. The February 2 report put Vero Beach precipitation since December 1 at 1.42 inches, against a normal of 5.45 inches for that span, and heating degree days for the young month had already reached 51, compared with a normal of 8. By the February 3 report, the month-to-date heating total at the Vero Beach Regional Airport stood at 68 degree days against a normal of 12.

NWS Melbourne put Indian River County under a Wind Advisory, two Extreme Cold Warnings and two Freeze Warnings covering the nights of January 31 and February 1, 2026.

Warnings were in place before the coldest night. NWS Melbourne warning messages issued on Saturday, January 31, 2026 placed Indian River County, along with the rest of east central Florida, under a Wind Advisory for northwest winds of 20 to 30 mph with gusts of 40 to 50 mph, an Extreme Cold Warning and a Freeze Warning for Saturday night into Sunday. A second Extreme Cold Warning and Freeze Warning followed for Sunday night into Monday, February 2.

The forecasts were specific. For the first night, the office expected wind chills of 9 to 15 degrees and hard freezing temperatures as low as 22; for the second, wind chills of 17 to 20 and lows as low as 25. The warning text listed the Coastal Indian River and Inland Indian River forecast zones and named Vero Beach, Sebastian and Fellsmere among the cities covered, and it said hard freeze conditions could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation and could damage unprotected outdoor plumbing.

The warning messages for Vero Beach asked people to dress in layers, including a hat, face mask and gloves, if they had to go outside, and to keep pets indoors as much as possible.

In Vero Beach and across Indian River County, the same NWS Melbourne messages told residents to make frequent checks on older family, friends and neighbors, to use portable heaters correctly, and never to run generators or grills inside.

The office also pointed Indian River County residents without heat or shelter to help. Anyone in that situation could call 211 or visit the local county website for help locating shelter from the cold, the messages said. For drivers, the Wind Advisory carried its own caution: winds that strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles, and gusty winds could blow around unsecured objects, bring down tree limbs and cause a few power outages.

February 2026 went into the Vero Beach record book as the month of the station's lowest February temperature, 26 degrees, even though it ended warm.

The monthly climate summary for Vero Beach, issued on March 1, 2026, flags the 26 degree reading of February 1 as the record low for the month; the record high for February at the station is 90 degrees, set on February 24, 2019. The average maximum was 73.3 degrees against a normal of 75.6, and the average minimum for February 2026 was 47.7 degrees, 6.8 degrees below the 1991 to 2020 normal, and the monthly mean of 60.5 degrees was 4.5 below normal. Heating degree days totaled 181 for the month, more than double the normal of 85.

The month did not stay cold. The same summary lists highs of 86 degrees at Vero Beach on February 20 and February 27, and a gust of 46 mph from the northwest on February 27, when 2.40 inches of rain fell across February 27 and 28.

The National Weather Service warned that the hard freeze could kill crops and other sensitive vegetation in Indian River County.

For Vero Beach yards, its Freeze Warning text said frost and freeze conditions could also damage unprotected outdoor plumbing, and it asked residents to take steps to protect tender plants from the cold and to bring potted plants indoors.

For pipes at Vero Beach homes, the advice was specific: outdoor water pipes could be wrapped, drained or allowed to drip slowly to prevent freezing and possible bursting. The cold that followed was long enough to matter for both. The daily climate reports show the airport low reached 26 degrees at 7:38 a.m. on February 1 and the high reached only 47 that afternoon, then the next morning fell to 27 degrees at 4:48 a.m.

Last verified: October 15, 2026, by re-reading each NWS Melbourne product this page cites, from the January 25 and February 1 to 3 Vero Beach record event reports to the daily climate reports, the March 1 monthly summary and the January 31 warning messages, all in the Iowa Environmental Mesonet text archive.