Anyone who has lived near a large body of water such as the ocean or great lakes, probably is aware that in the mornings a gently breeze flows from the land to the sea. By the afternoon, this phenomena reverses. These breezes are the result of uneven surface heating and are a response to temperature differences between the land and the sea.

The early morning finds the gulf waters along the northwest and western coasts of Florida at relatively the same temperatures as the nearby shores. The Eastern side of the Florida Peninsula finds the land temperature very similar to the Atlantic Ocean. As the day continues, the temperature of the Florida Coast slowly increases whereas that of the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean remain relatively the same. This occurs because the coastline absorbs the sun's energy more rapidly than the body of water. Whereas the oceans absorb the sun's energy without significant warming.

It is important to remember that the earth's atmosphere is not directly heated by the sun. Instead the earth's surface absorbs the sun's energy and re-radiates that energy into the earth's atmosphere, warming the overlying air layer. Through convection, this heat energy is transported to higher levels in the atmosphere. Because the temperature of the ocean remains relatively constant throughout the day, the air above it is not heated from below as efficiently as over the land. This results in the air temperature over the water being at a lower temperature than over the coast.

The warm air over the land is less dense than the cooler air over the water. This warm air expands in response to heating from the land below. This expanding air leads to an increase in the distance between constant pressure surfaces in the heated air. Over the ocean, the air is much cooler, so the expansion of air does not lead to as much of an increase in the distance between pressure surfaces.

As the land continues to heat, high pressure over the land develops at higher levels. Low pressure develops over the ocean, and the difference in pressure causes the air at the upper atmospheric levels to flow towards the sea - from a high pressure area to a lower pressure.

Air pressure at the earth's surface is determined by the weight of the air above it. The removal of air from the upper levels causes the pressure at the lower levels to decrease. As a sea-breeze develops, a low pressure area develops over the surface of the coast which is a response to the loss of air at the upper levels as the air flows offshore. Consequently, a high surface pressure area develops over the ocean as air accumulates at the upper levels. These differences in high and low pressure areas generate the sea breeze.

As the air flows towards the shore, air accumulates at the lower atmospheric levels, whereas the offshore air flows removes air from the upper atmospheric levels. Therefore air rising from the lower atmospheric levels replaces the air being removed from the air in the upper levels. Over the water, the air is accumulating in the upper atmosphere at the same time it is being removed at the lower levels. Thus the air descends from the upper reaches to replace the air which is being removed from the lower levels. These rising and sinking motions of the atmosphere results in the sea breeze one experiences in the afternoon at the beach. Because of fictional forces with the land, sea breezes generally are found less than 25 miles from the shore. Because of the narrow width of the Florida Peninsula, these sea breezes have important climatological consequences.