February Tempertures?

[Paula]

I think more and more people from the midwest will find SoWal over the coming years. If people stay for a while (e.g., snowbirds), it's a relatively easy drive from the midwest to the Panhandle. And it's much less expensive than going farther south in Florida where the prices go way up in the winter. There are plenty of porch sitting/beach watching/hot tub soaking days in SoWal to keep people escaping the cooler weather busy all winter. (not to mention restaurants, etc.)

 

[beachmouse]

I grew up with real winters, but it is amazing how fast your body adjusts to a warmer climate. I can tell you that, although I still own a parka and wool sweaters, they haven't seen the light of day since we moved here 4 years ago.

I've actually got my heavy sweaters still in rotation. But then I work in the building where all the servers are, so the air temperature in my office is in the 60-62F range all year round.

The parka is for wearing to the pool in February.

We generally get what I think of as our two annual weeks of winter some time between Christmas Day and Valentine's Day. For a trip, I'd try to go with late February to minimize the chance of hitting the annual two week cold snap.

 

[aquaticbiology]

Feb is super great - all the fish come back close in - if you dive the jetties at destin at night you might even see an octopus! surf fishing in winter is nothing at all like the default summer rays and sharks you get all the goodies, especially mr snook!

 

[SlowMovin]

Do we really get snook here in the winter? I didn't think they ever came this far north. Any tips?

 

[aquaticbiology]

Some far-ranging Snook are around from Feb-May and Oct-Dec (not the coldest or the hottest). You can get one off the PCB (bay county) fishing pier if you're lucky (a long time ago), or Destin waterfront where the wall part is if you don't get caught and yelled at (not so long ago), bridge pilings (if you don't get shot by harbor security) or you can take your rod for a Sunday Drive around to the St. Marks river and catch a couple of the many huge snook that slowly swim around and around up the river in the crystal clear freshwater. Kastmaster in silver with white tailfeather for freshwater and antique gold with orange/yellow for saltwater tied directly onto invisible-as-possible line. Remove the red plastic thingy if your lure has one, it's for summer only.