Weather
Cooper City in South Florida generally experiences a tropical wet-and-dry climate. This means that the mean temperatures in all 12 months do not fall below 18 degrees Celsius or 64.4 degrees Fahrenheit.
The average temperatures throughout the year typically reach a high of 80 to 85 degrees F from July to September and fall to a little below 70 degrees F from December to February. The city sees its wet season in the summer, from May to September, when the amount of rainfall peaks at an average of 10 inches in June. A typical summer day has a temperature of above 75 degrees F. During winter, the temperature could go below 60 degrees F but rarely dips below 40 degrees while average precipitation drops to 2-3 inches.
Mornings in Cooper City are usually balmy all year, with above 80 percent humidity on most days. It gets cooler in the afternoon though, as a thunderstorm or a sea breeze from the Atlantic Ocean relieves the stuffiness in the air. The water vapor content falls to 60-70 percent and could even go below 60 percent in the months of February up to May. Days are generally clear to partly cloudy.
The tornado activity in Cooper City is slightly lower compared with the Florida average but is three percent higher than the US average. Hurricane season starts in June and runs through November although hurricanes can still develop beyond these months. A lot of hurricanes have affected South Florida since the 1960s. The two most recent ones which inflicted much damage were Hurricanes Katrina and Wilma in 2005. In August of that year while Katrina was raging, a 79-year-old man died in Cooper City when his car struck a tree.
Because of its hurricane prone location, Cooper City as well as the whole state of Florida has launched programs and ordinances to prepare for such disasters. The state-sponsored My Safe Florida Home, for instance, offers free home inspections by hurricane mitigation inspectors. Homeowners can then apply for a grant of up to US$5,000. This means that the state will pay a maximum of US$5,000 for wind resistant upgrades done in the inspected homes. Properties which are not qualified for this program are mobile or manufactured homes, rented properties, apartments, second homes, and condos in buildings with five or more units and businesses.
In 2006, a controversial city ordinance was passed in preparation for the hurricane season. The law authorizes the local government to take personal property during emergencies. It attracted much criticisms though, which led to its rewording; the word “seized” was replaced with “acquired.” A lot of residents are still not satisfied with the amendment and are adamant that the ordinance violates property owner rights.