textproduct: Key West

KEY MESSAGES

- Small Craft Should Exercise Caution for increasing winds across the southeast Gulf waters as well as the Straits of Florida.

- Temperatures will remain on the cooler side of normal, but gradually trend warmer through the weekend and into next week.

- Nil rain chances are expected for the next several days as dry air remains entrenched across the Keys.

DISCUSSION

Issued at 1035 PM EST Fri Feb 6 2026 A surprisingly light winded night is underway across the Florida Keys this evening. A warm mainland during the afternoon and early evening kept winds practically calm over the Lower and Middle Keys while fresh westerly breezes blew over the Upper Keys as recorded by Carysfort Reef Light. Currently, gentle west to northwest breezes are observed along the rest of the Reef with light and at times variable winds over land. This has allowed for more inland areas to experience radiational cooling fairly early. While most temperatures across the island chain are floating around the mid to upper 50s, the Big Pine Key RAWS observation is currently 46 degrees over a dew point of 43 degrees. With a calm and clear start to the night, more areas may fall closer to their dew points in the lower 50s.

Tonight, breezes are expected to ramp back up late overnight resulting in moderate to fresh northwesterlies across our coastal waters. This comes as another shortwave trough dips through the Carolinas into the western North Atlantic while a surface high continues to spiral in the western Gulf. This evening's KKEY sounding notes a more unidirectional flow in the lower to mid levels than last night, but still retains a spike of dry air starting above 850 mb. This will keep rain chances near nil moving into tomorrow and hints that our cooling pattern is coming to an end. A warming pattern will ramp up for the weekend as the surface high meanders northeast through the Gulf slowly veering winds as we march closer to the next work week.

MARINE

Issued at 1035 PM EST Fri Feb 6 2026 Small Craft Should Exercise Caution for increasing winds in the Southeast Gulf waters and Straits of Florida. From synopsis, generally moderate breezes will continue across the local waters with modestly fresh breezes occurring in the easternmost portions of Hawk Channel and the Florida Straits. Breezes will wax and wane as we head into the weekend, peaking during the overnight hours. An area of high pressure will build across the Mid- Atlantic over the weekend, supporting moderate northwest breezes. As the high slides southeastward late Sunday through early next week, breezes will slacken and clock around to the northeast.

AVIATION

(00Z TAFS) Issued at 1035 PM EST Fri Feb 6 2026 VFR and dry conditions will prevail at both EYW and MTH tonight. Near surface winds will start light out of the west to northwest, increasing to near 10 knots and possibly including a few occasional gusts near 15 knots by tomorrow morning.

KEY WATCHES/WARNINGS/ADVISORIES

FL...None. GM...None.