39 replies to this topic

[ghar41]

Weather predictions for the night of January 17-18 here are 24-25F. What is it looking like in your area?

[Jastin]

38 for the 17th and 42 for the 18th

[ghar41]

38 for the 17th and 42 for the 18th

Not bad. Looks like SoCal is not getting this one.

[Jastin]

I hope it stays that way!

[MattyB]

It sure is cold today though. 49F is the high here today in Alpine (inland SD foothills) at the office. Brrrrrrrr.

[paulgila]

i got some frost damage to exposed/sensitve palms over the last few days.

[Jubaea]

28 last night in a protected area near the south facing wall of the house. I don't want to know what it got down to in the open. It barely got above 50 today and tonight is going to really suck here in the central valley of Nor Cal.

I have been ready for spring since November.

[sbpalms]

Forecast calls for 29 for the 17th and 29 for the 18th. I don't think I'll get that cold here at my house (slightly above the frost line) but we will see.

On a similar topic, does anyone have a good recommendation for a weather station/temperature gauge? I would like one that records daily highs and lows, with multiple sensors ( canopy, open, greenhouse ).

[Jim in Los Altos]

Checked three sources and it looks like we'll see 31F tonight and 34F tomorrow night. I may cover a couple of things tonight just in case. It only got up to 53F this afternoon.

[iwan]

Not going to be good. Forecast of 23F for town. Here, outside of the urban heat island, could flirt with zone 8B temps. Area citrus growers are on full alert. It will drop below freezing before midnight for sure.

[iwan]

Not looking good, dew point 14F. 10:30PM, 29.0F under frost cloth and 26.3 under canopy about 6' away, near the house.

[enigma99]

31.5F @ 23:11. Last night was 26F. Really sucks... This air came rushing down from above Nome, Alaska (Arctic circle) and we took a direct hit in N. California. Freaky weather but now we freeze hard. Now we can party like it's 2007

[enigma99]

Actually, we might see coldest temps since 1990. How exciting!

[enigma99]

31.7F now at 23:35

[enigma99]

Wind has picked up from the East. Since the wind is compressing as it goes downslope, temp is now 33F. How is Madera doing?

[iwan]

Well, it didn't drop like a rock, but still cold for a long time. 24.5F under the frost cloth against the house, 23.2F under canopy at 7:00am. Water pipes partially frozen. Haven't ventured out to check the remote thermometers and see if there was a lower minimum. I am sure temps were into the upper teens at ground level at my lowest locations. Tomorrow morning should be as cold or possibly colder, with the daytime highs only getting into the low 50's.

The only positive point is that frost is minimal. The air is just too dry.

[PANGEA EXPRESS]

Its a record low for me in Sonoma county, 21.5F

[Jim in Los Altos]

Just as was the forecast, my low this morning was 31F. That's the lowest reading I've had since 2007. Tonight should be a little warmer. Looks like we could be getting significant rain and mild temperatures in a couple of days.

[iwan]

22.7F @6' under frost cloth next to house
19.8F @6' under canopy
22.1F @2' under cardboard box and blanket covering a barrel cactus

And probably the worst, 30.1F in the unheated garage where the more tender stuff is stashed.

Official airport temps were ~23F for around three hours with a low of 22.4F.

I haven't seen Zone 8 temps since the big freezes of 1998 and 2007.

[Patrick]

My thermometer in the back (to the north of my house) said the low last night was 24. Brrrr! Well, lots went under shade cloth/ sheets, and my Chamaedorea plumosas had a fan blowing on them to avoid frost. Where they are planted is a 9b/10 area anyways between the houses- no biggie. It didn't get above freezing in my backyard until about 9AM this morning. Time to uncover.

It seems we always get one or two zingers just about every winter.




Off to work. Coffee and palms- one of the best combos there is!


At least we are going to warm up some tonight. If it were to be a more sustained system I would probably be a bit more concerned.

[enigma99]

Got down to 30.5F last night in Rocklin. Not that bad at all... Considering the forecast was much lower

Edited by enigma99, 17 January 2012 - 10:36 AM.

[monkeyranch]

Low yesterday morning of 28 deg F. Last night it was 30 deg F at 7pm. Started dropping fast and was 26deg by 9pm and still air suggesting record low by dawn. Didn't think it would drop that fast so was outside until midnight shuffling plants into the greenhouse. At around 10:00p winds started moving and it was up to 28deg F by 11:00. Held at that most of night and was only 26 at sunrise. My low since living here was 21deg F in 2007 and at the start of last night it was dropping so fast I thought it might break that low. The winds were helpful. Some of the better thermal belts (i.e hills up to 800' elv. just on the valley edge) bottomed out at 32-34 deg F. These are the prime Mandarin locations. Sure like weatherunderground's personal weather station data.

[Sutter Bob]

Definitely the coldest morning that I can recall in the last few years.
I think our official low this morning was 20F (at least in Marysville).
This cold snap took a big toll here - most of the Archontophoenix are looking pretty brown.
Fortunately I've been collecting a few more cold hardy species.
Hope things stay warm the rest of the year.

[WestCoastGal]

From local Weather Underground stations in my area it was around 27-28 F last night (Monday) and temps are still suppose to fall lower tonight to 23 F. between 4-7am but the network news does't have it that low. Then warmer temps with rain for the rest of the week.

Don't expect issues with our cold hardy palms (trachy, butia and mules). We'll have more landscaping in the ground by next winter and so are paying closer attention to the lows as we begin to think about what to plant. We have an inexpensive 3-station weather display and hope to upgrade it sometime this year. Would love one that will record the lows and highs and be equipped with more station capacity.

My neighbor said she fell on the ice this morning, wasn't expecting it and her sloped driveway had water on it from her sprinkler system. Have to say it sure feels colder than I remember in some time. Can't wait for spring this year.

[sbpalms]

Well I lucked out, 45 yesterday, and 42 this morning. Weather Channel recorded 37 yesterday and 36 this morning in my zipcode.

[Stevetoad]

32 for me with a side order of frost. Didn't cover anything. This could be bad.

[Palmzilla]

I got 35 this early weds AM. Pretty good frost here. I have had over a dozen light frost at my place if not more.

[palmcurry]

34 with frost. Just got a few new plants and am hoping there is no damage.

[MattyB]

41F out in the open, 43F under the jacaranda...no frost

...but as soon as I drove down the hill, just a couple blocks away, I saw this:

Attached Thumbnails

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[Stevetoad]

1326906233[/url]' post='507919']
41F out in the open, 43F under the jacaranda...no frost

...but as soon as I drove down the hill, just a couple blocks away, I saw this:

Where's my sled?

[WestCoastGal]

As we thought the 23 F mentioned above was not reached. Weather stations were reporting 27-28 F for a few hours instead. Expecting rain late tonight.

Too bad we lost the reporting station that was a few blocks from us; that was an ideal station and they were constantly updating too. We did have the typical frost on the cars and such in the shade of the morning sun. This year we'll be planting our potted orange tree in the ground and won't be able to move it to the garage so will be looking for some of the frost protection cloth for it and other frost sensitive plants we'll put in.

[Fallbrook Jason]

39 here in Fallbrook this morning, no sign of frost.

[nachocarl]

Here in Vista it was 36 F out front, no canopy, 44 F in the back, under canopy. Can a get a shout out for canopy out front? Boy do I need it! Palms out front include, P. hilibrantii, looks not so good, C. macrocarpa, will let me know next week just how it feels about it, even my Foxy lady looks less than happy. All damage is merely cosmetic, nothing deadly.

Since the beginning of Dec there has been a total of 22 nights where the front yard has hit in the 30’s. Of those nights, 12 of them have been 36F or lower with the lowest seeing 32F (twice). If I see 36F in the front I know there is going to be frost out there, at least on the cars.

The interesting thing is our solid white car was covered in thick frost and just 10 feet away; our solid black car had no frost. Both were in the street with zero canopy and where the cold air drains downhill. Nice color, heat absorption, properties, science project thingy going on there.

[iwan]

Much better this morning, but still an extended hard freeze. Very dry, no frost seen anywhere.

33.5/31.9F @10:30PM
27.0/25.7F @7:00AM low 26.8/25.0F
Garage 35.0F
Echinocactus grusonii 26.1F under box/blanket


-Some damage to cold hardy palms, 5-10g size in the ground: Spotting to most butiagrus, butia capitata, Brahea edulis (a potted 5g edulis about 30' away was defoliated). Livistona chinensis, Livistona rigida moderate damage. Butia x Syagrus coronata undamaged. 5g Sabal pumos in pots damaged, one planted 10' away undamaged.
-15g size, established in the ground: Acoelorrhaphe wrightii moderately burned (in a cold pocket), (Butia x Jubaea) x Syagrus, spotting, Sabal Riverside, spotting.
-Established trees/plants moderately burned: Bambusa oldhamii, Schinus molle, Cesalpinia sp., some burning to skyward oriented Washingtonia fronds, Syagrus oleracea along with most Queens. Hardy agaves damaged.

Normally a 25F is not a big deal, but following the previous hard freeze and probably a month of frost/freeze days (including a couple of low 20F mornings) is taking a toll on drought stressed plants.

Edited by iwan, 18 January 2012 - 05:29 PM.

[MattyB]

44F and 46F here this morning, but down the hill I observed frost again.

[Jon T]

I'm glad this cold dry spell is over (for now) and a bit of warmer moisture is in store.
I recorded 21 at 7 AM on Tuesday, 22 yesterday, and 23 this morning (Thurs.) This has been my worst winter since 2007, when I lost many (I thought)bulletproof palms to three nights in the 14-15 degree range. Seems to be the curse of some La Nina years here, such as, if my memory is correct, '90-91, '96-97,'06-07, and '11-12.

This year has been painful here because of the sheer number of crystalline, still, frigid nights -- dozens below 30 -- since the end of November, combined with the number of brilliant days in the 70s. The poor palms have been sending up proud unsuspecting green spears even as their old leaves toast bronze, then wither to brown. Of course I've spent a hundred hours covering the smaller delicate stuff, but when it drops below 32 at ten PM until 9:30 AM, well, nothing is unscathed.

Some nice surprises: No damage to livistona nitida, even uncovered. Same with sabal uresana and riverside and dioon edule. Little or no damage to parajubaea microcarpa, tvt, sunkha under light canopy. Same with the various cocoid hybrids.

Bummers: My livistona australis which spent the last five years growing out of 2007's toasting, until its crown was a magnificent 12' x12' and too big to cover. Not gonna die, but it looks as bad as my washingtonia robustas and queens -- probably 65% when all the visible damage turns crispy grey by next week.

It's funny how our cold spells are so personalized. All politics (and freezes!) are local. So, some of us lose our comfort zone at 35 degrees, and some at 15. For me, it's 25. And the grass is always greener...under the canopy.

[Jubaea]

I remember seeing damage on Washingtonia in Atascader/Paso Robles area before this freeze. Do they have any green left on them after this last event?

[iwan]

Great comments Jon T. Sorry to hear about your damage.


My final low for this freeze was 26.3F this morning with 8-10 hours below freezing. Finally, it is over. Pulled all the "tender" stuff out of the garage for some badly needed rain.

[Jon T]

I remember seeing damage on Washingtonia in Atascader/Paso Robles area before this freeze. Do they have any green left on them after this last event?

Jubaea, most of our north SLO county Washies are somewhat damaged this year, unless they're on cold-drained slopes, except for the filifera fatties, which, being 7-8 degrees tougher, are almost never hurt. Even the filibustas don't get damaged till about 19. The pure robustas do seem to brown about 25-30% at 22-23, which we hit most years, but they grow out of it every summer, 'cause they're, well, robust. There is an 80-footer planted in 1914 by Atascadero's founder on El Camino. It's survived a half-dozen single-digit mornings in the last 98 years!

And Iwan, guess we can relax a bit. I know from reading the records that February is much less able to whack us with low twenties. Not out of the woods, but light at the end of the mixed- metaphor tunnel.

[JasonD]

SF Botanical Garden nursery, coldest spot in San Francisco, reached 28-29F for the two coldest mornings. My car's outside thermometer read 37 & 39F those same mornings (for what it's worth). I was parked on the street, about a 10-minute walk from the SFBG nursery. My windshield was covered in white frost, as were some of the rooftops in the area. The only damage in my yard was on an uncovered Carica X 'Babaco'. We covered Hedyscepe, Rhopalostylis baueri, and the seemingly doomed Pritchardia remota.