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Orlando, FL UV Index Today

Modelled for · GMT-4

What is the UV index in Orlando right now?

0.4 Low

EPA describes low UV as needing no protection for most people.

Today's peak is 8.4 (Very High) at about 1pm local time.

When is UV strongest in Orlando today?

UV in Orlando peaks at 8.4 (Very High) around 1pm local time (GMT-4). It stays at 6 or above — the high band — for 3 hours, roughly 12pm to 3pm. UV is 3 or above for 5 hours.

Local time, midnight to midnight. Bar colour is the EPA UV band, never restyled.

Orlando today, in numbers

Latitude
28.5°N — 117 of 121 from the north
Today's peak
8.4 (Very High) — 18 of 121 nationally
Peak arrives
1pm local (GMT-4)
At or above 6
3 hours, 12pm to 3pm
At or above 3
5 hours, 11am to 4pm

The window from 12pm to 3pm is the practical answer for Orlando today. Nationally today the spread runs 11.4 in Hilo (20°N) to 1.3 in Fargo (47°N). Why latitude and the clock decide this →

Where the two sea breezes finish their run

Orlando stands 42 miles inland from the Atlantic and 77 miles from the Gulf. On a warm-season afternoon that is roughly where the two sea breezes, one pushing west off the ocean and one pushing east off the Gulf, run out of room between them and meet. Cities on either coast watch that line form somewhere inland of themselves and keep their own afternoon open. This metro is usually underneath it, or close enough that the cloud arrives within an hour of the daily maximum.

Geometry is the less interesting variable. At 28.5 degrees north the June solstice sun climbs to about 85 degrees at midday, five short of vertical, and it does that whether or not anything is in the way. The lakes make no difference either. Lake Apopka northwest of the city is the largest of them, and open fresh water reflects little in the ultraviolet band and puts no obstacle in front of a boundary moving overland.

The result is a year split into two kinds of reliability. From roughly November through April the convergence pattern is largely shut down, skies stay open, and the index tracks the date closely enough to plan against. From May into September the same published figure describes a ceiling that a given afternoon may or may not reach, depending on when the line arrives overhead and how much of the day is left by then.

Nearest metros we model

UV changes with latitude, not with a city boundary, so a neighbour a hundred miles north reads differently for a reason.

Tampa, FL 77 mi · 27.9°N peak 8.3 Jacksonville, FL 125 mi · 30.3°N peak 7.9 Miami, FL 205 mi · 25.8°N peak 9.2

What does Orlando’s UV index mean today?

0.4 is Low. EPA describes low UV as needing no protection for most people. Today Orlando also reaches Very High at its peak — a different band from the one it is in right now, which is why the hour matters as much as the day.

The scale is open-ended: 11 is where the named bands stop, not the maximum. All five bands, with the EPA guidance for each →

Modelled, not measured

The UV figures for Orlando are computed by the Copernicus atmosphere model, not read off an instrument here — unlike the AQI on our air-quality pages, which comes from a regulatory monitor. Cloud is where a UV model is weakest. What that means in practice →

Questions about UV in Orlando

What is the UV index in Orlando today?

0.4 right now (Low), peaking at 8.4 around 1pm local time. UV stays at 6 or above for 3 hours, from about 12pm to 3pm. This is a modelled value, not a ground measurement.

When is UV strongest in Orlando today?

Around 1pm local time (GMT-4), not at noon — solar noon drifts across a timezone and daylight saving moves it later on the clock.

Is this measured or modelled?

Modelled. The figures come from the Copernicus atmosphere model via Open-Meteo, unlike the AQI on our air-quality pages, which is read from an EPA regulatory monitor. Cloud cover is where a UV model is weakest.

Orlando air qualityThe AQI, from a regulatory monitor rather than a model UV across the USWhere Orlando sits against every metro we track

Updated