BEAUTIFUL SPRING

[gsytch]

The weather in Tampa Bay has been almost perfect. Starting at the end of March, we have not seen a night below 58F, bountiful sunshine, breezes, and sunny, warm afternoons. It rained this week - over an inch - after two dry weeks...which were good because of so much rain in March. Most afternoons are around 80-82F, humidity very moderate (50-60%. Plants have been exploding! Unfortunately, the winter losses did mount, but those that made it are starting to recover. Waking up to 62F this morning under clear skies. Typical April. I have not seen anything over 85F either, and cannot remember the last day (other than the rainy day) that it did not hit 80F. Memories are fading but not forgotten! How is everyone else doing? Greg

[JimStPete]

Same exact thing happening in my yard Greg! The weather has been absolutely beautiful since the end of March. Low humidity, warm temps (around 80, even near the gulf now), and bright sunshine with a good rain shower at least once a week which is very unusual during our dry season! Everything that was fried that still has life in it is pushing out new growth giving me hope that most of my 10a palms made it. I finally gave up on my Christmas/Manila palms and cut all 8 of them down. It was weird the way they died. They came through our low of 27 and only were burned around the edges of the leaves. Then, within about 2 weeks, all the leaves turned brown. There was just the slightest bit of green near the spear, and it stayed that way from January until this past weekend. That's way too long to look at a plam that not doing well, especially when they are in the front yard. All of them had about 10' of trunk and 'were' absolutely beautiful while they were alive. They're also cheap to buy. But I'm not going to waste my time planting any more of them. The Royal Palms in this area always seem to come back just fine after our freeze every 6-8 years so I never worry about them. Surprisingly, my Montgomery triple, although badly burned, is growing new leaves very quickly now because of the warm weather! I'm pretty much done with planting 10a palms now. I just planted a nice pindo palm knowing it will never be hurt by the cold and plan to get several more of them. I already have a very nice Bismark that was not hurt at all by the freeze and I plan on planting 2 more of them this year. I'm looking at European Fan palms after seeing how cool they look when they get big from the pictures shared by our California palm friends! I'm actually thinking of planting a few Queen Palms because they are never damaged by our freezes, they always look good if given just a little bit of care. The one 10a palm that seems to be able to handle our freezes is the King Palm. They only partially burned during the freeze and immediately started pushing out new leaves, even during the 3 months of very cool weather we had this winter. My one coconut made it through the freeze and was green for about a month after, but the following unusual two months of temps mostly in the 50's and low 60's finally did it in. I've been through the freeze thing 4 times now since 1989 and have grown tired of the worry/panic about freezes and my 10a palms. I wish I lived in zone 10a, but the fact is, St Pete is still in the southern end of zone 9b and we get into the upper 20's once every 6-8 years (the past 20 years).

[Exotic Life]

For us over here also a beautifull spring so far with loads of sunshine and good temperatures during the day but a bit chilly nights but not frosty. Temperatures during the day from today goin also up tot 20-25C and the nights are going to 6-8C.

April is also very dry till so far, today is number 17 without rain and the first days of April I got only 13 mm of rain, also the rainfall in March was already below average. If we look to the forecast there is not any rain forecasted the next 10 days for sure, with the strong April sunshine everything is drying out very quickly and the dust is everywhere.

I got a sandy soil right here so that's even drying out faster then the regulair soils. There also have been some bigger bush and beach fires last week that burned loads of lands into ash.

Robbin

[happ]

You guys deserve "normal" weather again! I was unable to join friends for a visit to Miami\ Key West [it couldn't be better conditions right now]. On the other coast it has been persistently cool [bordering cold] weather with occasional rainfall [which is appreciated but not the chilly temps].

[velutina]

The last month in Las Vegas has been descent. Highs between 70-85 and Lows 45-65. It's projected to hit 90F in the next couple days and will likely hit 100F within the next few weeks

Wish we could get some of that Tampa Bay humidity here...

[gsytch]

Yesterday was the first "summer" type day of the year! A little late but nice. It hit 88F in my yard with dewpoints hovering just below 70F with endless sunshine. Today is hazy/milky but not overcast, muggy with dewpoint 71F and temps already over 80F. We are anticipating a line of storms from those terrible storms hitting the deep south. Luckily, it will not be so bad here but once again, welcome rains. I can just see everything JUMPING in growth! So nice here in April.

[gsytch]

The front that came through late sunday with all the storms and damage around Tampa Bay dumped 4.7" - yes, almost FIVE INCHES of rain in about six hours. No power for 8 hours. Our average monthly rainfall for April is about 1.75". That means for the second month in a row we topped 6". This is our dry season! If we just get "normal" rains for summer we are in excellent shape. A nippy 57F this morning, but still beautiful out and our first 90F day is predicted this weekend. Ahhhh spring! Everything is bursting with growth~

[Exotic Life]

I like spring the most just as yesterday and today with warm temperatures and mild nights and beautifull sunshine. Today it's 26C/78.8F at the moment and our normal average is 14C/57.2F. Last night temperature just below the 15C/59F and our normal average for the nights at the moment is only 5C/41F. Today is also number 22 without rain and got only 13 mm of rain this month so far.

April is going to be here very sunny, most of the time warmer then average and very dry. Looks like when we go into May it's going to be cooler but we will see.

[Exotic Life]

Map.

[Xenon]

The first 90º day is expected tomorrow! Seems like we skipped spring..

-Jonathan

[gsytch]

First "summer" day of the year! Partly sunny, humid dewpoint 75F temp 88.7F at 1230pm...slight breeze...I can see all the palms and plants a jumping for joy! Meanwhile, the west is chilly. Central Park NYC warmest April ever after a winter from hell. Weather is such a cycle of labor! Greg

[Zeeth]

90F here and rising, heat index of 101F. Lots of yard work, but you won't hear me complaining! The breaks inside every hour to cool off are worth the plant growth, and they sorely need it after this winter.

[gsytch]

Well, here we go. TOTAL of .05" of rain in May. The two days of thunder missed me almost completely. A few showers is all despite hours of thunder. Water every day. Its the dry May! Hot, muggy (not too bad) and breezy but no rain of merit. The hose is a friend! I am hopeful the rainy season will kick in soon because watering gets old! Greg

[Tampa Scott]

Well, here we go. TOTAL of .05" of rain in May. The two days of thunder missed me almost completely. A few showers is all despite hours of thunder. Water every day. Its the dry May! Hot, muggy (not too bad) and breezy but no rain of merit. The hose is a friend! I am hopeful the rainy season will kick in soon because watering gets old! Greg

Greg, Sorry to hear the rain missed you. May 16-17 I received .80" in NW Tampa area. We are about a month away from the daily thunderstorms.

[happ]

Glad you enjoying a nice spring in Florida but doesn't that happen every year anyway? I worry how tropical storms will effect that oil in the Gulf. What kind of hurricane season is being discussed? NOAA calls for more activity this summer compared to recent years. The West coast is having a dull and at times dreary May with cold systems spinning out of the Gulf of Alaska. No rain in SoCal but chilly temps [though I did record 0.03 this morning]. Yesterday's maximum was 62F\ 16.6C at my house [not sure if that's a record but mighty close]. Does 62F sound refreshing?

[PalmGuyWC]

Nothing but persistent cool weather in N. Calf. The weak fronts that have moved through have dropped only traces of rain at my place. This time last year we were experiencing 90+ temps. Warm weather is at least 6 weeks behind here. Great weather for humans, no so for palms.

Dick

[gsn]

I worry how tropical storms will effect that oil in the Gulf. What kind of hurricane season is being discussed? NOAA calls for more activity this summer compared to recent years.

NOAA has been WRONG 3 of the last 4 years, and 7 of the last 11 years regarding hurricane predictions...just sayin

Here is a good alternate site on hurricane predictions/prognostications!

http://www.nationalcenter.org/HurricaneForecast.html

Edited May 19, 2010 by gsn

[PalmatierMeg]

Listening to the news at lunch. The oil spill has entered the Loop Current and weatherman says conditions are prime for development of season's 1st tropical storm in the Caribbean next week. Gads, I hope not.

[Steve the palmreader]

I think they are just hopeing for something to happen so they can go into their 24/7 disaster and panic reporting

[gsn]

Listening to the news at lunch. The oil spill has entered the Loop Current and weatherman says conditions are prime for development of season's 1st tropical storm in the Caribbean next week. Gads, I hope not.

I think they are just hopeing for something to happen so they can go into their 24/7 disaster and panic reporting

I couldn't agree more, news hype, weather hype, combine the two and they are in hog heaven!

May is NOT a hot bed for tropical storm formation historically ,I guess that is the reason hurricane season doesn't start until June!

Doing a little research exposed these facts...

Since 1865 there have only been 21 tropical storms, and 5 actual hurricanes that developed before June.

Of these 26 storms in 145 years of record keeping only 6 actually entered or developed in the Gulf of Mexico.

My computer MODEL says the odds are pretty low that a hurricane, a week from now, will actually exacerbate the unfortunate oil spill in the gulf! But my model along with others have proven to be less than reliable, so who knows!

But it has been a nice spring here in Florida !

Edited May 20, 2010 by gsn

[Jeff Searle]

It has been nice for the last 6 or 7 weeks now, with moderate amounts of rain through April. Got a couple of tenth's over the last 3 days here. So everything has been green and this past horrific winter is ALMOST a distant memory. I've slapped on over 200 croton airlayers in the past 3 weeks and some are starting to root in the moss already. It's starting to heat up nicely!