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Dec 2013 California Freeze Watch


Mauna Kea Cloudforest

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So at to not mislead folks in Southern California, I am going to use this thread to post daily updates from the various meteorological sources on next week's forecasted Yukon Express which is now going to affect mostly Central and Northern California. This is not a 2007 repeat. Socal NWS calls for threats of hard freezes in Southern California's upper deserts and far inland valleys, but it's not likely that Southern California's coastal zones will experience anything worse than maybe a few degrees below 45F. At least that's what the current forecasts are saying.

As of Saturday Morning, the GFS has the bulk of the energy aimed over inland Central California, with a rapid decline in intensity Westward and Southward. The East Pacific High and an active split jet stream pattern over Baja is pushing the cold inland and Eastward. That's one hell of a tongue with heights down to 528, see GFS average (Unisys) below. The narrow isobars means a steady flow of air from East to West, not good for the Central Valley. This is now forecast to be a moisture starved system with significant decreases in dewpoints going eastward away from the ocean.

ScreenShot2013-11-30at93736AM_zps71cd6a4

The current forecasts for the Central Valley right in Central California are nasty looking. Forecasts increase rapidly as you move West towards the coast, most of the Bay area has forecast in the 30-33F range. (Jim, Mountain View is looking at 31F, not exactly what I'd call a hard freeze.)

ScreenShot2013-11-30at93144AM_zpsb7885ea

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Yeah, right now I'm expecting the usual banana and heliconia leaf burn that happens almost every year. NOAA says the coldest night will dip to 32F in Los Altos and 33F in Los Altos Hills. I'll still probably drape something over my foxy lady, foxtail, and Dictosperma rubrum. Those are my least cold hardy palms in the ground.

Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

Las Palmas Design

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Las Palmas Design & Associates

Elegant Homes and Gardens

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I came in here to basically say I am sad what is going to happen next week. I'm in Sacramento (Zone 9B) and usually our lows are around 27/28 for the season and it's only a couple nights when it happens. Sometimes 26, sometimes 29. Pretty easy to protect if you accept burn. I've got Kings and Gingers that have been in the ground for years and very large. (Well post 2007)

Next week though... ugh. I don't even know if its worth protecting and I should just let stuff die. 23F is just too damn cold. + 3 additional nights below 30F

Edited by enigma99
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Reason is quite simple, the jet stream is not moving much all week. Coming directly over land without a chance to moderate over the ocean. Although the temp models don't show it yet, to me Friday looks more dangerous with the high speed air from from the north pole. Maybe the Southern jet will budge a little and let our Arctic jet stream relax a little. :bummed:

13120100_jetstream_pac_h96.gif13120100_jetstream_pac_h120.gif

Edited by enigma99
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Crap, here's what the NWS Monterey office has printed:

THE PATTERN FOR NEXT WEEK LOOKS MUCH LIKE THE PATTERN THAT WAS IN

PLACE DURING THE MIDDLE PART OF THIS PAST JANUARY WHEN THERE WERE

SEVERAL CONSECUTIVE NIGHTS OF FREEZING TEMPS IN THE VALLEYS. SOME

COMPARISONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO THE MORE INTENSE FREEZE IN JANUARY

OF 2007. THE AIRMASS WITH THIS SYSTEM DOES NOT APPEAR TO BE COLD

ENOUGH TO PRODUCE A FREEZE OF THAT MAGNITUDE...AT LEAST NOT

ACCORDING TO THE LAST FEW RUNS OF THE GFS WHICH SHOW MINIMUM 850

MB TEMPS ACROSS OUR AREA OF ABOUT MINUS 3 DEG C. HOWEVER...THE

MOST RECENT ECMWF AND CANADIAN MODELS FORECAST 850 MB TEMPS TO

DROP AS LOW AS MINUS 5 DEG C...WHICH WOULD PUT THIS EVENT CLOSER

TO MAGNITUDE OF THE JANUARY 2007 COLD SNAP. WHICHEVER MODEL

VERIFIES...CONFIDENCE IS HIGH THAT NEXT WEEK WILL BE COLD AND

ANYONE WITH SENSITIVE VEGETATION SHOULD BE PREPARED FOR FREEZING

TEMPERATURES.

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Special Weather statement issued for Bay area and Monterey Bay:

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA AND
MONTEREY BAY AREA.

.DAY ONE...SUNDAY AND SUNDAY NIGHT

ABOVE AVERAGE TEMPERATURES WILL PERSIST THROUGH TODAY.

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN...MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

A MAJOR CHANGE IN THE WEATHER PATTERN IS SLATED FOR MONDAY NIGHT
AS A COLD FRONT APPROACHES THE NORTH BAY. A SLIGHT CHANCE OF
SHOWERS WILL ACCOMPANY THE FRONT AS IT SWEEPS SOUTHWARD EARLY
TUESDAY MORNING. IN WAKE OF THE FRONTAL PASSAGE...BLUSTERY NORTH
WINDS WILL DEVELOP AND A MUCH COLDER AIR MASS WILL SETTLE IN OVER
THE REGION.

OVERNIGHT AND EARLY MORNING TEMPERATURES WILL LIKELY FALL TO...OR
BELOW FREEZING IN THE VALLEYS BEGINNING WEDNESDAY MORNING AND
CONTINUING THROUGH AT LEAST FRIDAY. AT THIS TIME...THE COLDEST
MORNING APPEARS TO BE THURSDAY WITH AREAS OF THE NORTH BAY AS
WELL AS SOUTHERN MONTEREY AND SAN BENITO COUNTIES FALLING INTO
THE LOW TO MID 20S.

PERSONS WITH SENSITIVE PLANTS AND OUTDOOR ANIMALS SHOULD CONTINUE
TO MONITOR THE WEATHER CLOSELY FOR ADDITIONAL AND DETAILED
INFORMATION ABOUT THE VERY COLD TEMPERATURES NEXT WEEK.
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Freeze Watch issued for the Central Valley:

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SACRAMENTO CA
224 PM PST SUN DEC 1 2013

...FREEZE CONDITIONS POSSIBLE ALONG THE CENTRAL VALLEY AND
FOOTHILL LOCATIONS LATE THIS WEEK...

.A VERY COLD AIRMASS ORIGINATING FROM WESTERN CANADA WILL MOVE
TOWARD CALIFORNIA BY THE MIDDLE OF THIS WEEK. LOW TEMPERATURES
NEAR FREEZING ARE EXPECTED TUESDAY NIGHT, WITH WIDESPREAD SUB-
FREEZING TEMPERATURES WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH AT LEAST FRIDAY
NIGHT.

CAZ015>019-021300-
/O.NEW.KSTO.HZ.A.0001.131205T0800Z-131207T1800Z/
NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY-CENTRAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY-
SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY-CARQUINEZ STRAIT AND DELTA-
NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY-
INCLUDING THE CITIES OF...REDDING...CHICO...SACRAMENTO...
STOCKTON...MODESTO
224 PM PST SUN DEC 1 2013

...HARD FREEZE WATCH IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH
SATURDAY MORNING...

THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN SACRAMENTO HAS ISSUED A HARD
FREEZE WATCH...WHICH IS IN EFFECT FROM LATE WEDNESDAY NIGHT
THROUGH SATURDAY MORNING.

* TEMPERATURES: IN THE LOWER TO UPPER 20S.

* TIMING: WEDNESDAY NIGHT THROUGH FRIDAY NIGHT.

* LOCATIONS INCLUDE: STOCKTON...MODESTO...SACRAMENTO...CHICO...
  REDDING.

* IMPACTS: COLD TEMPERATURES COULD KILL CROPS AND SENSITIVE
  VEGETATION, HARM PETS AND LIVESTOCK, AND CAUSE PIPES TO BURST.

* FOR A DETAILED VIEW OF THE HAZARD AREA...VISIT
  HTTP://WWW.WEATHER.GOV/SACRAMENTO/HAZARDS
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Hazardous Weather Statement Issued for Southern California:

HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE LOS ANGELES/OXNARD CA
600 AM PST SUN DEC 1 2013

CAZ034>041-044>046-051>054-059-087-088-547-548-021400-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY CENTRAL COAST-
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY CENTRAL COAST-SANTA YNEZ VALLEY-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY INTERIOR VALLEYS-CUYAMA VALLEY-
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY SOUTH COAST-VENTURA COUNTY COAST-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY COAST INCLUDING DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES-
VENTURA COUNTY INTERIOR VALLEYS-VENTURA COUNTY COASTAL VALLEYS-
SANTA MONICA MOUNTAINS RECREATIONAL AREA-
SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
SANTA BARBARA COUNTY MOUNTAINS-VENTURA COUNTY MOUNTAINS-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY MOUNTAINS EXCLUDING THE SANTA MONICA RANGE-
ANTELOPE VALLEY-CATALINA ISLAND-SANTA CLARITA VALLEY-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SAN FERNANDO VALLEY-
LOS ANGELES COUNTY SAN GABRIEL VALLEY-
600 AM PST SUN DEC 1 2013

THIS HAZARDOUS WEATHER OUTLOOK IS FOR SOUTHWESTERN CALIFORNIA.

.DAY ONE... TODAY AND TONIGHT

LINGERING LONG PERIOD WESTERLY SWELL WILL CONTINUE TO GENERATE
DANGEROUS RIP CURRENTS ALONG LOCAL BEACHES TODAY.

* HIGH RIP CURRENT RISK......SEE FZUS56 KLOX - SRFLOX FOR DETAILS *

.DAYS TWO THROUGH SEVEN... MONDAY THROUGH SATURDAY

AN INSIDE SLIDER WILL APPROACH THE AREA TUESDAY. ON TUESDAY AND
TUESDAY NIGHT...THIS SYSTEM WILL BRING THE POSSIBILITY OF SOME
SHOWERS TO THE PARTS OF THE AREA ALONG WITH GUSTY WESTERLY WINDS
ACROSS THE MOUNTAINS AND DESERTS. WEDNESDAY THROUGH FRIDAY SHOULD BE
MOSTLY DRY SAVE FOR A FEW MOUNTAIN SHOWERS. THE VERY COLD AIR MASS
WILL LIKELY BRING WIDESPREAD HARD FREEZE TEMPERATURES FROM WEDNESDAY
MORNING THROUGH FRIDAY MORNING TO THE INTERIOR REGION AND
TEMPERATURES RIGHT AROUND FREEZING FOR MANY OF THE COASTAL VALLEYS.

.SPOTTER INFORMATION STATEMENT...

WEATHER SPOTTERS ARE ENCOURAGED TO REPORT SIGNIFICANT WEATHER
CONDITIONS ACCORDING TO STANDARD OPERATING PROCEDURES.
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Haven't had much of a chance to look at this freeze event because of thanksgiving. Looks like some of the models 8-10 days ago predicting long durations of cold temperatures appeared to have been accurate. I wouldn't say 19 for Modesto. If radiation cooling is maximized with calm winds I'd say maybe 22 or 23 but if there is any wind it will be more like 25. It does look cold for an extended period of time so watch out and keep those palms safe. Haven't had a chance to really look in depth forecasting anything but I'll take a look soon. Wind is very important in temperature bottoming out. If it is completely calm temps will drop like a rock but any mixing of the atmosphere and temps will stay within the 25-30 range. I'll have a take a look once I get a little free time tomorrow.

Meteorologist and PhD student in Climate Science

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It's not too bad here in the Hollywood Hils (AKA Santa Monica Mountains), above the Los Angeles Basin. I'm in a canyon, so vast majority of the time the cold air heads for the basin and the beach.

post-168-0-22108200-1385953274_thumb.jpg

Hollywood Hills West, Los Angeles, CA USA

Southwest facing canyon | Altitude 600 - 775 feet | Decomposing granite
USDA Zone 10b | AHS 6 | Sunset Zone 23 | Köppen Csb | No frost or freezes
Average Low 49 F°/9.4 C° | Average High 79 F°/28.8 C° | Average Rainfall 20"/50.8 cm

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More reinforcing cold air forecast this weekend, its going to be a bloodbath in Norcal this year. We're now looking at a full week of freezing temperatures.

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Looking much better for me as far as Intellicast, Accuweather, and NOAA forcasts are concerned. This morning, they all revised nighttime lows upward for Los Altos and Los Altos Hills. Worst case scenario is 32F Thursday night. and Accuweather and Intellicast have us staying above freezing the whole week. That's in contrast to earlier reports suggesting temps in the upper 20s. We'll see.

Jim in Los Altos, CA  SF Bay Area 37.34N- 122.13W- 190' above sea level

zone 10a/9b

sunset zone 16

300+ palms, 90+ species in the ground

Las Palmas Design

Facebook Page

Las Palmas Design & Associates

Elegant Homes and Gardens

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Yes, just looked at Forecast for Santa Cruz:

Wed 54/37

Thur 54/38

Fri 55/41

Sat 53/38

Pew! Looked at the GFS and the energy is moving further East. At this stage, it's gonna be cool, but the freeze is looking less and less likely anywhere near the Bay area. That's a relief!

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Well...looks like we could get pretty chilly here in SoCal later this week. I'm seeing first of the season lows dipping into the upper 30s.

Now I start to complain about the weather.

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Well...looks like we could get pretty chilly here in SoCal later this week. I'm seeing first of the season lows dipping into the upper 30s.

Now I start to complain about the weather.

Given how the latest models are predicting how much warmer things will be, I doubt you'll be getting anything below 40F down south, especially near the coast. The whole thing is fizzling out pretty fast.

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My current iphone predictions for Santa Rosa this week as of 10:22 a.m. Tuesday ...

Wednesday - 55/23

Thursday - 54/27

Friday - 54/28

Saturday - 52/25

Sunday - 54/30

I just stepped outside and the air feels like Lake Tahoe air in the winter.

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It's here... from 70s to arctic. Can't even go outside today.

Outside_Temp_History.gifDew_Point_History.gif

Edited by enigma99
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Currently the noon time dewpoint in Modesto is 35f... not bad at the moment.

I saw one forecast that much of the cold air will settle in the south end of the valley.... sparing the central and north end due to wind mixing things up.

Donno if that will be the case as there seems to be a lot of conflicting weather reports out there.

Modesto, CA USDA 9b

July/August average 95f/63f

Dec/Jan average 55f/39f

Average lowest winter temp 27f

Record low temp 18f

Record high temp 113f

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Currently the noon time dewpoint in Modesto is 35f... not bad at the moment.

I saw one forecast that much of the cold air will settle in the south end of the valley.... sparing the central and north end due to wind mixing things up.

Donno if that will be the case as there seems to be a lot of conflicting weather reports out there.

The temperature forecast changes every time I look at it. The low here for tomorrow Morning is now forecast to be 38F. Winds are blowing off the ocean, humidity levels are at 50%, so dewpoint is somewhere around 35F. It's not really cold either, 56F with some places reading 60F.

Here are the latest GFS daily minimum temperature predictions:

mos_gfs_min_2d.gif

mos_gfs_min_3d.gif

mos_gfs_min_4d.gif

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35 @ 5am. Tomorrow will be another story.

Models are showing the cold will visit socal for a day or two on Sunday. TWC says 21 for sacramento. What? Is that a typo? Thats close to the all time low of any date

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Dodged the bullet last night....it is 44 here right now and nearly as high for the rest of East Contra Costa (37 in Walnut Creek - 20 miles from here) due to some anomalous wind movement.....but we should be in the mid-20s tonight (Wednesday night). Highs in the low 50s today, but sunny....

John Case

Brentwood CA

Owner and curator of Hana Keu Garden

USDA Zone 9b more or less, Sunset Zone 14 in winter 9 in summer

"Its always exciting the first time you save the world. Its a real thrill!"

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This is apparently just tbe beginning. Tomorrow Morning is supposed to be the worst, then followed by a super cold wet storm with snow down to 500 feet, followed by even more cold. There is no end in sight to the arctic air intrusion.

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Since 2007, Mother Nature has made my winters much more relaxing by killing most of my marginal palms. I used to watch the weather reports, had a home based weather station, pull plants inside for winter, cover certain palms, etc. etc., but the hassles and sorrow of losing my prized babies zapped the fun out of it. No more. I love the palms I can grow well, the rest, I'll enjoy seeing in pics and other places.

Matt

  • Upvote 1

Matt in Temecula, CA

Hot and dry in the summer, cold with light frost in the winter. Halfway between the desert and ocean

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Since 2007, Mother Nature has made my winters much more relaxing by killing most of my marginal palms. I used to watch the weather reports, had a home based weather station, pull plants inside for winter, cover certain palms, etc. etc., but the hassles and sorrow of losing my prized babies zapped the fun out of it. No more. I love the palms I can grow well, the rest, I'll enjoy seeing in pics and other places.

Matt

For us up here in Norcal, this is a way of life. The general public all plant things that can fry every 10-30 years, and the weather service routinely lets people know when they need to go out and cover things.

But Matt, you are totally right, fretting all Winter long sucks. I stopped doing that several years ago, and in fact in 2007 I did absolutely nothing, and ironically, very little got damaged. This year, however, I am trying out new things and ideally these young seedlings would need about another year or two to be fully acclimated. So this year I am protecting stuff.

I tried to plant for this type of event, i.e. anything only hardy into the upper 20's is under canopy or up against a building or on a steep hillside, and anything hardy to the lower 20's is out in the open where it can get cold. Still, I will cover things this year simply because it's the first year for a lot of the stuff.

It's like a refrigerator out there today.

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The plunge has begun, it's already in the upper 30's in the lower garden, still 40's in the upper garden thanks to wind up there. It's gonna be a cold one tonite. The temperature is dropping like a rock as it's heading towards the dewpoint. Looks like it will be a blood bath. Humidity is pretty high, though at 70%, which would put us somewhere around 29F by sunrise.

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Since 2007, Mother Nature has made my winters much more relaxing by killing most of my marginal palms. I used to watch the weather reports, had a home based weather station, pull plants inside for winter, cover certain palms, etc. etc., but the hassles and sorrow of losing my prized babies zapped the fun out of it. No more. I love the palms I can grow well, the rest, I'll enjoy seeing in pics and other places.

Matt

For us up here in Norcal, this is a way of life. The general public all plant things that can fry every 10-30 years, and the weather service routinely lets people know when they need to go out and cover things.

But Matt, you are totally right, fretting all Winter long sucks. I stopped doing that several years ago, and in fact in 2007 I did absolutely nothing, and ironically, very little got damaged. This year, however, I am trying out new things and ideally these young seedlings would need about another year or two to be fully acclimated. So this year I am protecting stuff.

I tried to plant for this type of event, i.e. anything only hardy into the upper 20's is under canopy or up against a building or on a steep hillside, and anything hardy to the lower 20's is out in the open where it can get cold. Still, I will cover things this year simply because it's the first year for a lot of the stuff.

It's like a refrigerator out there today.

Hi Axel,

I see, that does make a lot of sense, protect the babies as they should be able to better withstand and recover from a freeze event once they've grown to a larger size. I live in an area that gets below freezing every year and I did fine at first when I only had a few to protect, but then my hobby got out of control :-) and it became too much to handle.

Good luck in this freeze.

Matt

Matt in Temecula, CA

Hot and dry in the summer, cold with light frost in the winter. Halfway between the desert and ocean

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Continuing to dodge the bullet.....34 outside right now, probably will hit 31 by daybreak......perhaps the heat of my anger is keeping temps up....

John Case

Brentwood CA

Owner and curator of Hana Keu Garden

USDA Zone 9b more or less, Sunset Zone 14 in winter 9 in summer

"Its always exciting the first time you save the world. Its a real thrill!"

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Greetings from the frozen tundra, Santa Cruz County experienced a widespread freeze this Morning, 32F in the thermal belts, 26F in the greater Urban area, and low 20's in the Mountain Valleys. My gauge needs new batteries, so I can't rely on the data, it just went nuts with spikes all night, the drained batteries probably read lower than it actually was.

My upper garden has green, untouched bananas and papayas, looks like it was heading down into the freezing range as of 7:30AM, but very little frozen up there. The lower garden looks like a white tundra. I have some papayas down there, they were frozen to a crisp. But I need to survey things more closely to determine how cold it actually got. If the white sapote new growth is untouched, then it got down to 30F down there. If they're burned, it means upper 20's.

Full report at 11 when I get another chance to go out there.

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I was wondering how you were doing over there along the coast Axel. TV station said parts of our town got to 16 this a.m. Our nearby WUnderground station had us at 22 around 5 a.m. and the gauge we had outside registered 25 at 6 something. We're valley floor basically with only houses and landscaping offering any protection. Despite reclassifying our area to 9b recently, I still say the original 9a is more realistic for growers here.

We covered a few things. Had planned to add c9s under the cloth for last night (myself, and another lady looking to protect her avocado tree, bought out all the traditional c9 strands our Target had in stock yesterday afternoon) but only hubby's dwarf orange got decorated. It will be interesting to see what things look like in our yard in a bit, what comes back in the spring, and then how we plan for next year. This was our first winter with a fully landscaped yard so really newbies to frost/freeze protection. One thing we've learned is to set up early, not when it's so cold you don't want to be outside yourself! One of the news channels did a story on people frost protecting their plants and they did a segment on our local garden store. I had been there the day before and bought out their remaining 4 medium weight frost cloths and this newbie lady who just put in her landscaping said she bought out whatever they had left on the shelf which I know was only the lighter weight stuff. Given how cold we got glad I went there the day before.

Had an interesting observation this morning while waiting for hubby's bus to pick him up. We parked in front of a red and yellow leaved crepe myrtle that still had most of its leaves on it. As we sat there and the morning sun was hitting it, we watched a defoliation of it. Really a constant raining down of the colorful leaves. No wind assist either. Won't be surprised if it's bare when I pick him up tonight. The neighbor's fall-colored pear tree was similarly shedding leaves when I got home. Our butia, mules and chamaerops and olive made for an interesting contrast to the pear and the frosted lawns. Really enjoy looking at evergreens in contrast to stark branches. Supposedly one more really cold night and then closer to freezing but we'll have many continuous nights of freezing or near freezing temps. Looking to be a tough winter for many. A number of lows were set in the SF Bay area this a.m.

Zone 9b (formerly listed as Zone 9a); Sunset 14

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I was wondering how you were doing over there along the coast Axel. TV station said parts of our town got to 16 this a.m. Our nearby WUnderground station had us at 22 around 5 a.m. and the gauge we had outside registered 25 at 6 something. We're valley floor basically with only houses and landscaping offering any protection. Despite reclassifying our area to 9b recently, I still say the original 9a is more realistic for growers here.

We covered a few things. Had planned to add c9s under the cloth for last night (myself, and another lady looking to protect her avocado tree, bought out all the traditional c9 strands our Target had in stock yesterday afternoon) but only hubby's dwarf orange got decorated. It will be interesting to see what things look like in our yard in a bit, what comes back in the spring, and then how we plan for next year. This was our first winter with a fully landscaped yard so really newbies to frost/freeze protection. One thing we've learned is to set up early, not when it's so cold you don't want to be outside yourself! One of the news channels did a story on people frost protecting their plants and they did a segment on our local garden store. I had been there the day before and bought out their remaining 4 medium weight frost cloths and this newbie lady who just put in her landscaping said she bought out whatever they had left on the shelf which I know was only the lighter weight stuff. Given how cold we got glad I went there the day before.

Had an interesting observation this morning while waiting for hubby's bus to pick him up. We parked in front of a red and yellow leaved crepe myrtle that still had most of its leaves on it. As we sat there and the morning sun was hitting it, we watched a defoliation of it. Really a constant raining down of the colorful leaves. No wind assist either. Won't be surprised if it's bare when I pick him up tonight. The neighbor's fall-colored pear tree was similarly shedding leaves when I got home. Our butia, mules and chamaerops and olive made for an interesting contrast to the pear and the frosted lawns. Really enjoy looking at evergreens in contrast to stark branches. Supposedly one more really cold night and then closer to freezing but we'll have many continuous nights of freezing or near freezing temps. Looking to be a tough winter for many. A number of lows were set in the SF Bay area this a.m.

Yes, both Santa Cruz County and Santa Clara County got nailed very hard. But the record lows were hit in Southern San Benito County, 9F down there.

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We got nailed but not as bad as other norcal cities.

There was intermittent breezes that kept the temps from getting too low.

I had 28f... toasted about 80 percent of my banana leaves.

All of my palms look good as does my ficus Dammaropsis that I purposely left exposed .

Gut feeling tells me we will be a little warmer tonight , then warmer Friday ...., NWS says the valley will see snow on Friday...hmmm?

Jeff

Modesto, CA USDA 9b

July/August average 95f/63f

Dec/Jan average 55f/39f

Average lowest winter temp 27f

Record low temp 18f

Record high temp 113f

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My condolences. We had a freak November freeze down here. I got off late from work and was like a madman trying to cover things. Not next year.... anything not tolerant to frost will be under a pop up greenhouse by mid November. TOO MUCH STRESS!

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For me this isn't bad as my lowest temp of the year is in the 26f-27f range... zone9b.

All of my palms have seen worse. I think I had 23f one winter.

Modesto, CA USDA 9b

July/August average 95f/63f

Dec/Jan average 55f/39f

Average lowest winter temp 27f

Record low temp 18f

Record high temp 113f

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