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Persistent Cold Air in Florida


gsytch

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Pleasantly surprised when I saw at 5:30am that the temp was still 40F. Has since dropped to 39.6F at 6:15am, so warmer than was forecast. The long awaited turn around finally begins. :)

Royal Palm Beach, FL.

USDA Zone 10A/10B Subtropical

26.7 degrees N. latitude

10 miles West of West Palm Beach and the ocean

Avg. yearly rainfall 58 inches

:cool:

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Also somewhat surprised at the temp upon wakeup.....but quite when I went outside and saw the amount of thick white frost on car rooftops, I was rather shocked!

I also went around and felt the leaves of a few palms and many things that I have never seen frosted, are frosted! There is going to be some ugly ugly damage from tonight.

But, although its dark, it seems like the foliage thats up high is not frosted as when I shook a few trunks, water fell down :mrlooney: I also see the house roofs are not frosted. So, I suppose its got to be a little warmer up there.

This is a prime example of Florida frost.....Temp in the middle 30's and dewpoints not much lower, leading to frost on highly exposed surfaces.

post-200-1263295196_thumb.png

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Also, real low of 31.9F at 1255AM. Im a little puzzled by my plots though as this is a quick blip down from ~33F, then to the low then back up to ~33F all within 10 minutes ....Ive never seen that before, when the air was calm.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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forecast tonight for Titusville

w/underground - 29F

weather.com ---- 29F

NWS -------------- 32F

tomorrow night a BALMY 34F from all 3!!!, is that a first, ALL having the exact same forecast?? :mrlooney:

However tomorrow nights forecast could be revised DOWN below freezing at 6:00 PM or so tomorrow!!! :hmm:

Well it's time for the post mortem..and this isn't even going to be the final LOW as it will get colder at daybreak, pretty unbeleivable actually.

At 6:30 AM my temp is 24.8F...yes you heard that right 24.8F!!! :rage: went down to 24.4 while I was typing this!!! Very heavy FROST to boot!

I suspect ALL of my Zone 10 palms are history...they probably were before tonight.

Ya think they MISSED it...the forecast I mean, by a mere 8 degrees on the wrong side?

Predicting weather is not a SCIENCE ,I don't care what anyone says...maybe telling you what/why it happened after is a SCIENCE!!

Weathermen don't have a CLUE,unfortunately! I figured they were off base, as I stated around 7:30 8:00 last night!!

I'm out, hope everyone fared better than me tonight!!! :)

Oh well I'm going to have to dig up some BIG palms!!

Edited by gsn

Scott

Titusville, FL

1/2 mile from the Indian River

USDA Zone COLD

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Clearwater/St. Pete AP showing 31F at this hour!?!?!? Something seems weird about that.

I saw that too, but everything else is much warmer. Something amiss?

Maybe the station just flat out froze solid, or perhaps the Chmber of Commerce didnt like the information it was giving :mrlooney: Its stopped reporting overnight.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Pleasantly surprised when I saw at 5:30am that the temp was still 40F. Has since dropped to 39.6F at 6:15am, so warmer than was forecast. The long awaited turn around finally begins. :)

You're better off than we are - about 5F better off. We're at 34, but both our cars are covered in frost. Never seen anything like this before.

There is a thin layer of frost all over the triangle teddies - until this morning, they had been unfazed by this - even got through Sun night/Mon morning with no problems. Only to have this happen. In fact everything has frost on it.

Here's a bad sign: there's a big turk's cap in the back yard we'd transplanted last spring. It had been doing fine, even through yesterday. It now has shrivelled leaves. It's real trouble when a turk's cap is cold-stressed!

Rolling blackout news: in Pasco, some are without power according to today's Times. It may come to that here. And yesterday, we heard of people in S. FL without power due to the cold. This is an epic event, no doubt about it.

edited to ask: wasn't this cold supposed to have stopped on Monday?

Edited by SunnyFl

St. Pete

Zone - a wacked-out place between 9b & 10

Elevation = 44' - not that it does any good

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Sunny-

Check this out.........Oh to live just a little further west!

Ive never seen such a dramatic differential at the coast vs even slightly inland. I would almost think it bogus data if there werent so many stations showing the same trend.

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat...pix=0&dir=0

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Scott,

That really sucks to make it to when everyone else is coming out of this deep freeze and you get your worst damage. I wonder why it is colder where you are....it is very odd.

I woke up this morning to above freezing temps as well. 34-38 degrees according to surrounding weather stations and my back porch thermometer.

I do have light frost on the ground and plastic trash can, less than last nights ...or was it night before frost.

Wow, going to have look and see just how many days we've been going through this.....seems like a month. Spring can't come fast enough.

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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I'm out, hope everyone fared better than me tonight!!! :)

I think this my my worst night as well, based on the frost I saw out there. I think this AM will have caused the most damage.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Also somewhat surprised at the temp upon wakeup.....but quite when I went outside and saw the amount of thick white frost on car rooftops, I was rather shocked!

I also went around and felt the leaves of a few palms and many things that I have never seen frosted, are frosted! There is going to be some ugly ugly damage from tonight.

But, although its dark, it seems like the foliage thats up high is not frosted as when I shook a few trunks, water fell down :mrlooney: I also see the house roofs are not frosted. So, I suppose its got to be a little warmer up there.

This is a prime example of Florida frost.....Temp in the middle 30's and dewpoints not much lower, leading to frost on highly exposed surfaces.

Larry,

This is the same thing that I notice here too... When we get night temps in the low-mid 30's with no wind, it's a frosty wonderland outside, but when the temps are in the high 20's, there's no frost. I think the frost is worse than the lower temps.

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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David,

I wish I could answer your question,I have no idea why I got so COLD... There is a station west of I95 that recorded about the same as me, about 4 miles from the river,then there is a station also west of me about 2 miles from the river and they seem to have had a low of 27F.

I am about a 1/2 mile from the river and my low so far is 24.4F,unfortunately!!!According to the local prognosticator anything east of US1 was supposed to have a very light freeze. I'm about 3 tenths of a mile west of US1!

The FAT LADY has sung for me... some stuff ,if this hadn't happened this morning might have survived,some still might..but I am not holding out any hope! :(

Edited by gsn

Scott

Titusville, FL

1/2 mile from the Indian River

USDA Zone COLD

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I also see the house roofs are not frosted. So, I suppose its got to be a little warmer up there.

In the last half hour, house rooftops have now gotten frosted......HEAVILY!

A neighbor across the street has her sprinklers on........major steam coming out of that yard! It actually looks pretty cool....just hope they stay on long enough to not cause more damage.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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The FAT LADY has sung for me... some stuff ,if this hadn't happened this morning might have survived,some still might..but I am not holding out any hope! :(

The sun is coming up here and some real nastiness is being exposed.

All of my large Royals appear to have been blowtorched overnight. My Coconuts also look atrocious. By this afternoon when it (supposedly) warms up, my yard is going to smell really bad.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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HA! Just went outside and thought I heard RAIN!

Its warming up fairly quickly now and I figured it out..........

Its the frost melting off the palm leaves and falling down as water! It appears even the leaves way up high have been given a good coat of ice.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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I walked by the gauge at a little after 6:00 am and it was 19.8*... lots of frost and ice as usual... it smells like plant death when you walk outside... everything is solid brown... nothing new.

Heck, why warm up now? I'm getting used to this!

And yes, I'm only kidding about the "why warm up now?"! :)

Edited by JayW

Zone 9 Central Florida

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I don't think the warm up will help me at ALL... by the way they have revised the forecast for tonight NWS says freeze again tonight 32F was 35F yesterday!!!

I think after this winter, I just might MOVE to FLORIDA, and get away from this winter crap! :mrlooney:

Edited by gsn

Scott

Titusville, FL

1/2 mile from the Indian River

USDA Zone COLD

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Sunny-

Check this out.........Oh to live just a little further west!

Ive never seen such a dramatic differential at the coast vs even slightly inland. I would almost think it bogus data if there werent so many stations showing the same trend.

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat...pix=0&dir=0

These temperature differences are pretty amazing. I typically get 1 or 2 light frosts a year, but my folks who are 6 miles closer to the coast, never see any.

Sad to hear about the frost. Its always the pits waking up to that. Do you still have that Pritchardia and has has that fared?

Royal Palm Beach, FL.

USDA Zone 10A/10B Subtropical

26.7 degrees N. latitude

10 miles West of West Palm Beach and the ocean

Avg. yearly rainfall 58 inches

:cool:

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Heavy frost on everything in the yard. The Royals are brown, purple king fried, spindle and bottle brown, and even the majesty palms are looking bad. The d. decaryi looks untouched.

Things can only get better.

Vero Beach, FL

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I'm out, hope everyone fared better than me tonight!!! :)

I think this my my worst night as well, based on the frost I saw out there. I think this AM will have caused the most damage.

Larry & Scott - I am so sorry for your losses - this has been very painful. And I'm very sad now - I just took a quick trip out back and a look in front.

Mush.

Like you all, I have spent many hours planting and tending to my gardens. It meant more to me than anything. All gone. There may be a few survivors but I won't tempt fate by naming them. Not until we know for sure.

Here's how bad it is: a huge bougainvillea in the back yard with a southern exposure - half dead, maybe completely dead. Bougainvillea???!!

This d__n frost has been the worst! NEVER have we had it like this here. So many things survived Sunday night's cold - I mean they really looked fine! - and now they are shrivelled and wilted, covered by frost. We could've gotten through this... if hadn't been for this d__n frost.

St. Pete

Zone - a wacked-out place between 9b & 10

Elevation = 44' - not that it does any good

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Not really enjoying my coffee this morning. My stomach all in knots reading this mornings horror here.

Larry/Sunny, Maybe if the frost is already melting off the leaves and since it was only on them for a short duration, damage will be minimal?

Scott, I don't know, some palms are pretty tough and might surprise to the survival side. Its the length of this extended cold spell though, that just doesn't seem to be giving anyone a break.

Royal Palm Beach, FL.

USDA Zone 10A/10B Subtropical

26.7 degrees N. latitude

10 miles West of West Palm Beach and the ocean

Avg. yearly rainfall 58 inches

:cool:

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Very heavy frost this morning... I just went outside and took some new pics. I'll post some soon of my iced over palms and so forth. It's already warmed up from 19* to 23* at 8:00... it's down right balmy outside!

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Sunny,

Thanks, I am sorry to hear of your damage,you think St.Pete, and think of a great micro climate,hang in there! :)

Larry ,

Also sorry for your damage, I would have thought with your temps things would have fared better?

ZoneTen,

I hear ya, but the zone 10 stuff just doesn't like 24F degrees, foxylady ,foxtails, kentiopsis, spindles, lutecense, caryota mitis, triangle, christmas palms,that is most likely a killing temp,especially with this extended cold.

I still have stuff in the yard that will fly through this with no problems, I will replace what dies with hardier palms. It hurts that some of those mentioned are center piece palms.

I guess the one that hurts the most is my Moms memorial foxtail(it was her favorite palm),that we transplanted from her house 2 years ago when she died...

I have spent many a night at both her house and here , with a propane heater on it. It was getting a good amount of trunk about 7,or 8 feet of clear trunk,not including the crown shaft, and 18 or 19 feet overall,maybe it will pull through, I had the propane on it!

It's all kinda depressing, nursing them along ,only to have them ripped from you in one night!! But that's unfortunately what you get pushing the limits!

Edited by gsn

Scott

Titusville, FL

1/2 mile from the Indian River

USDA Zone COLD

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From this morning...

Sabal Minor (Louisiana form)

DSCF1182.jpg

P1124983.jpg

Shouldn't hurt the Sabal minors, but it sure looks scary on a palm! :blink:

Zone 9 Central Florida

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32F here with heavy frost in open, exposed areas, heavier than yesterday

already up to 40F

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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Our weather station (Davis Vantage Pro 2) takes and records readings in 15 minute increments. For the night of Jan. 9-10 (Sat.-Sun.) noticed the duration of below freezing was incredible. The low was only 29F but here is the times for each increment;

32F- 9:30pm

31F- 10:30pm

30F- 1:15am

29F- 5:45am

30F- 9:00am

31F- 9:15am

32F- 9:30am

33F- 9:45am

35F- 10:00am

so 12 hours at 32F or below, the absolute low wasn't bad but the duration at/below freezing was the worst since the big 12/89 killer freeze

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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It looks like by Thursday everything will revert back to normal in Florida. It's a bit too late for a lot though. I'm sorry to read the distressing accounts here.

I'm never complaining about my winters again.

Best regards

Tyrone

Millbrook, "Kinjarling" Noongar word meaning "Place of Rain", Rainbow Coast, Western Australia 35S. Warm temperate. Csb Koeppen Climate classification. Cool nights all year round.

 

 

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Hit 33F on the Isabelle Canal. Had to go to work so didn't have time to take a tour this morning. But I know I had damage last night when I looked around. Today can only be worse. And it doesn't help to know so many people here are in the same shape or worse. It is just so depressing to know so many beautiful plants have been destroyed. I know they're only plants and all, but still....

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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The duration of cold in Vero Beach on Jan. 9-10 was around 9 hours. We stayed at 31.

Still, the difference in temperature between Orlando and Vero isn't much.

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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forecast tonight for Titusville

w/underground - 29F

weather.com ---- 29F

NWS -------------- 32F

tomorrow night a BALMY 34F from all 3!!!, is that a first, ALL having the exact same forecast?? :mrlooney:

However tomorrow nights forecast could be revised DOWN below freezing at 6:00 PM or so tomorrow!!! :hmm:

Well it's time for the post mortem..and this isn't even going to be the final LOW as it will get colder at daybreak, pretty unbeleivable actually.

At 6:30 AM my temp is 24.8F...yes you heard that right 24.8F!!! :rage: went down to 24.4 while I was typing this!!! Very heavy FROST to boot!

I suspect ALL of my Zone 10 palms are history...they probably were before tonight.

Ya think they MISSED it...the forecast I mean, by a mere 8 degrees on the wrong side?

Predicting weather is not a SCIENCE ,I don't care what anyone says...maybe telling you what/why it happened after is a SCIENCE!!

Weathermen don't have a CLUE,unfortunately! I figured they were off base, as I stated around 7:30 8:00 last night!!

I'm out, hope everyone fared better than me tonight!!! :)

Oh well I'm going to have to dig up some BIG palms!!

Scott,

Don't dig for a couple months if you see green on the spears, or at all on the big ones. You might have some surprising survivors.

Good luck, good luck to everyone.

Bill

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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Don't dig for a couple months if you see green on the spears, or at all on the big ones. You might have some surprising survivors.

I have a feeling chilly weather veterans in CA are gonna be the ones we look up to during our upcoming outbreak of fungal attacks...

I couldn't do this every year. I'd grow pine.

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I went outside this morning and the outlook is bleak. The thermometer says 33F but I don't believe it. I will take some pictures but the day really brings out the burn in these plants. Plants that surprisingly look just about 100% not protected at all, but if they are shadelovers they were under canopy.

Chelyocarpus chuco

Astrocaryum alatum

Coccoloba rugosa

Bindles

a half dozen Licuala spp.

EDIT: A station near me bottomed out at 30.3, but at 740am it was 30.7, then it rose 10F an hour for 2.5 hours and is about 60 now! nice to feel.

Christian Faulkner

Venice, Florida - South Sarasota County.

www.faulknerspalms.com

 

Μολὼν λάβε

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Don't dig for a couple months if you see green on the spears, or at all on the big ones. You might have some surprising survivors.

I have a feeling chilly weather veterans in CA are gonna be the ones we look up to during our upcoming outbreak of fungal attacks...

I couldn't do this every year. I'd grow pine.

You know Bill, we had a "Frost/freeze damage" So Cal magazine that came out a while after and showed what people had gone thru and how they had coped.

One thing that I saw some had success with that I hadn't thought of was if you had a moderately fast growing palm, to cut off the top just low enough to get below any potential crown rot, but obviously not so low as to kill the meristem. The theory that seemed to work was if the palm was not having to fight fungus and could at least get 1/2 a leaf or so to open, it stood a good chance of recovery.

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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WOW! That is such a drastic measure... I'm not sure I'd have the guts to do something like that.

Ok, I could. I just don't like the thought of it. :D

The reason it stuck in my mind is the article showed pictures of it working! I believe they had some Chamedoreas and a Caryota.

Zone 10a at best after 2007 AND 2013, on SW facing hill, 1 1/2 miles from coast in Oceanside, CA. 30-98 degrees, and 45-80deg. about 95% of the time.

"The great workman of nature is time."   ,  "Genius is nothing but a great aptitude for patience."

-George-Louis Leclerc de Buffon-

I do some experiments and learning in my garden with palms so you don't have to experience the pain! Look at my old threads to find various observations and tips!

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I went outside this morning and the outlook is bleak. The thermometer says 33F but I don't believe it. I will take some pictures but the day really brings out the burn in these plants. Plants that surprisingly look just about 100% not protected at all, but if they are shadelovers they were under canopy.

Chelyocarpus chuco

Astrocaryum alatum

Coccoloba rugosa

Bindles

a half dozen Licuala spp.

EDIT: A station near me bottomed out at 30.3, but at 740am it was 30.7, then it rose 10F an hour for 2.5 hours and is about 60 now! nice to feel.

I have 2 Maurtiella armata planted in the ground and one in a pot sunk in a pond and all 3 looked good as of yesterday. Will have to see if there are any delayed damge on them.

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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I have 2 Maurtiella armata planted in the ground and one in a pot sunk in a pond and all 3 looked good as of yesterday. Will have to see if there are any delayed damge on them.

Mine look crappy, they are willty and laying down... :rant:

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