The U.S. Office of Management and Budget defines it as consisting of the counties of Lake, Orange (including Orlando), Osceola, and Seminole.

The Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford MSA is further listed by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget as part of the Orlando–Lakeland–Deltona, Florida Combined Statistical Area (CSA).

The area's humidity acts as a buffer, usually preventing actual temperatures from exceeding 100 °F (38 °C), but also pushing the heat index to over 110 °F (43 °C).

Strong afternoon thunderstorms are common daily during these months, caused by the air mass from the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean colliding over the region.

[9] The average annual rainfall in Orlando is 51.45 inches (1,307 mm), a majority of which occurs in the period from June to September.

In 1998, a strong El Niño caused an unusually wet January and February, followed by drought throughout the spring and early summer, causing a record wildfire season that created numerous air-quality alerts in Orlando and severely affected normal daily life, including the postponement of that year's Pepsi 400 NASCAR race in nearby Daytona Beach.

[23] The Orlando metropolitan area was historically a Republican stronghold but began shifting toward the Democratic Party at the turn of the 21st century, driven by increasing demographic diversity.

However, following the 2016 election, the region has shown a trend toward the Republican Party, largely due to growing support among Hispanic voters, particularly Puerto Ricans, under Donald Trump.

Other agricultural pursuits, particularly cattle farming, remain important parts of the Central Florida economy, but are now all located on the outer fringes of the metro area.

Metro Orlando has served as a major military defense and aerospace center since World War II.

The most prominent defense contractor in the area is Lockheed Martin, which operates both a laboratory and a manufacturing facility in Orlando.

Military presence began in the 1940s, with the opening of McCoy Air Force Base and the Orlando Naval Training Center.

Metro Orlando's economy has greatly diversified from tourism, and the area is now considered a primary city for the modeling, simulation and training (MS&T) industry.

[42] In addition to having a Lockheed Martin branch, it also hosts other major hi-tech companies such as Oracle Corporation, Electronic Arts, and Siemens.

Orlando is targeting the biotechnology and life sciences industries, with major new projects clustering in the Lake Nona Medical City.

In 2005, the state of Florida along with Tavistock Group and the University of Central Florida agreed that Tavistock would donate 50 acres (20 ha) and $12.5 million (which the state would match for a total of $25 Million) to start the UCF College of Medicine and the Burnett School of Biomedical Sciences.

In February and March 2007 respectively, Nemours and the United States Department of Veterans Affairs announced Lake Nona as the site of two new hospitals.

[citation needed] It was determined in 2008 from a study done by Arduin, Laffer and Moore Econometrics that the Lake Nona Medical City cluster has in two years reached 80% of the Milken Numbers which were based on the commitments made by the economic development statements.

[43] In January 2020, KPMG completed construction of a $450 million, 55 acre, state-of-the-art training facility in the Lake Nona region of the Greater Orlando area.

Lake and Seminole counties have school boards of five members elected by county-wide vote from districts in which they must reside.

Orlando Sanford International (SFB) is generally served by charter flights from Europe, though it is also a hub for national small-city carrier Allegiant Air and home to Delta Connection Academy, a pilot training school.

Daytona Beach International also serves as the main airport for pilot training at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University.

LYNX provides service on local, limited-stop (FastLink), and neighborhood, on-demand circulator routes (NeighborLink).

Orlando was eastern terminus of the Amtrak Sunset Limited, until damage to train bridges caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005 halted service east of New Orleans.

Scott said that Florida taxpayers would be stuck with paying for expected large cost overruns if the rail system were built.

Current service runs from Miami to West Palm Beach, with construction to Orlando to begin in March 2019.

A Chinatown (Chinese: 奥兰多唐人街; pinyin: Àolánduō táng rén jiē) is situated at 5060 West Colonial Drive (located outside city limits) as of 2002.

"[53] The Chinatown features an eclectic blend of Chinese, Korean, Filipino, Vietnamese and Indian cultures through its numerous pan-Asian businesses.

[56] The Orlando Sentinel further states that "... by retrofitting the mostly vacant strip center, which includes a former Wal-Mart discount store and Publix supermarket, a group of out-of-state Chinese investors are hoping to draw more than 60 Asian-owned businesses to the site by the end of the year. "