Meteorologists in Miami are, frankly, used to drama: flooding on sunny days, heavy rain showers, strong hurricanes.
So it's telling – and frightening – that they can't seem to find words to describe the extreme heat the city has been experiencing in recent days, a full month before summer.
“It's completely insane what just happened,” said Brian McNoldy, a senior research scientist at the University of Miami.
“It's crazy,” said John Morales, a meteorologist for ClimaData, a private weather forecasting and consulting firm, and a hurricane specialist at WTVJ-TV, the NBC station in Miami. “Not only is it insane, it's dangerous.”
They were talking about the heat index, a measure of how warm it really feels outside, taking into account humidity and temperature. The heat index reached 112 degrees on both Saturday and Sunday, breaking the previous daily record by a whopping 11 degrees.
Sunday's high of 96 degrees was also a record, Mr. McNoldy said. Saturday's high of 94 was one degree lower than the day's record. All this in May, normally a difficult month in Miami, compared to the three or four that follow.
Increasingly extreme weather events, including stronger hurricanes and worsening flooding, have led to the withdrawal of major insurers from the state and some of the highest insurance premiums in the country.
Now, extreme heat appears to be reshaping the shoulder seasons as well. According to Mr. McNoldy, the heat index in Key West, about 160 miles south of Miami, reached 115 degrees on May 15, breaking the previous daily record by 17 degrees.
South Florida is warm and humid most of the year, but only rarely does air temperature reach (or reach) the mid-nineties. What makes the heat in the region dangerous is when high temperatures combine with very high humidity, which can make it feel oppressively hot.
This is how it went through the weekend. Stepping outside felt like walking into a broiler, even late into the night. Showering three times a day was not out of the question. On Sundays people packed their things a beach in Key Biscaynea barrier island just east of Miami, where the water felt more like deep summer than late spring.
Last week, Governor Ron DeSantis, a Republican who has supported programs to make communities more resilient to extreme weather, signed legislation removing many mentions of climate change of the Florida policy – in one of the states most vulnerable to climate change.
On Saturday, Steve MacLaughlin, a meteorologist for WTVJ, said urged viewers to weigh the decisions of elected leaders as they face punishing temperatures.
“The whole world is looking to Florida to lead on climate change, and our administration says climate change is no longer the priority it once was,” he said.
“Keep in mind that the most powerful solution to climate change is the one you already have in your hands: the right to vote,” Mr. MacLaughlin added. “We will never tell you who to vote for, but we will tell you this: We implore you to please do your research and know that there are candidates who believe in climate change, and there are solutions – and there are candidates who don't. “T.”
Last month, Mr. DeSantis passed a law banning local governments to require employers to provide workers with heat protection, after Miami-Dade County passed nearly the nation's strictest requirements to provide outdoor workers with water, rest and shade.
Esteban Wood, policy director for WeCount, which represents farm workers, plant nursery workers and construction workers in Miami-Dade County and is pushing for the protections, said spring is peak season for tropical plant horticulture and does not typically coincide with extreme heat. .
“Now it is,” he said. “We are seeing temperatures that these workers have never seen in their lives.”
Thunderstorms began rolling across Miami on Tuesday afternoon. In some places it hailed.