Gainesville has been experiencing unusually warm weather this January.
Temperatures have been almost 20 degrees higher than the average for this time of the year. On Tuesday, the temperature came within two degrees of breaking that date's record high of 85 degrees Farenheit.
Students, typically bundled in boots and scarves for winter at this time of year, could be seen Wednesday roaming campus in tank tops and flip-flops.
Jayme Fitzgerald, a 21-year-old tourism and hospitality management major, was handing out fliers in shorts.
"You can't complain, because the weather outside is great," Fitzgerald said. "I love wearing shorts and a T-shirt out instead of wearing fleece everywhere I go."
The main cause for this warmth is a weather pattern called Arctic oscillation, said Al Sandrik, meteorologist for the National Weather Service.
The continental U.S. is currently locked in a positive Arctic oscillation, which means there is lower-than-normal pressure over the poles. This causes colder weather to get stuck in the northern parts of the continent like Canada and Alaska.
However, the system can switch unpredictably to a negative Arctic oscillation, which would allow the cold air to venture south.
Gainesville's last two winters have been the fourth- and fifth-coldest seasons on record, which may have been caused by a negative Arctic oscillation, Sandrik said.
"Don't be surprised if it gets cold in February or March," he said. "We usually don't stay locked in one pattern for the whole season."
La Niña is also playing a role, he said. The weather pattern is causing warm air to flow into the southern areas.
The warm temperatures will take the weekend off, with low temperatures in the upper 40s and high temperatures in the upper 60s to lower 70s. There's even a chance of a freeze Monday night.
Still, this dip in temperature hasn't dampened Fitzgerald's appreciation of the warm weather, considering she used to live in Oklahoma.
"It's 32 degrees there right now," Fitzgerald said. "So this weather is perfect."
