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Winter of '80-'81 in Central Florida


Bill H2DB

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Being a weather nut of sorts , I have kept weather data/info for a long time in central Fla.

Here is a scan of late December 1980 into January-early February 1981.

I was basically tracking the difference between Daytona area weather ,and the area

of Fla in the Heartland area. The data for Wauchula was taken from the local weekly paper

the Herald Advocate . The station is a cold location overall for the area . It is the Ona Fla

agricultural station .

Quite a run of cold compared to recent times in the same areas . The intrusion into the Data around Jan 24 is from a graph that was on the next page , and the scale was insufficient , so .....

11996876826_38328ae51d_b.jpg

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"Cool" historical data Bill. I love this retro stuff!

It does show how "normal" colder weather can be in FL and how we may have been spoiled in the recent past.

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Larry 

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

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I remember it being a cold winter that year and many of the queen palms around here with some foliage burn. But that was when most of the queen palms around here were the more tender forms. These were wiped out later in the freezes of 1983, 85 and 89, when the citrus was killed too.

The winter before was cold as there was a freeze the first week of March, 1980. Dropped to about 25F in Orlando.

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Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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I actually remember that winter. I was allowed to go out and play in my new snow suit. We quite literally had drifts as high as the eaves of our house. It is still the most "wintery" winter I can remember.

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"Ph'nglui mglw'napalma Funkthulhu R'Lincolnea wgah'palm fhtagn"
"In his house at Lincoln, dread Funkthulhu plants palm trees."

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What a great record you kept? The 80s were one cold decade for sure.

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In my post I sometimes express "my" opinion. Warning, it may differ from "your" opinion. If so, please do not feel insulted, just state your own if you wish. Any data in this post is provided 'as is' and in no event shall I be liable for any damages, including, without limitation, damages resulting from accuracy or lack thereof, insult, or any other damages

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I was in first grade at BallastPoint Elem. in Tampa when that chart was drafted up! Woah.

-Ray.

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Brandon, FL

27.95°N 82.28°W (Elev. 62 ft)

Zone9 w/ canopy

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That winter was colder on Florida's west coast than the infamous Dec 1989 everyone talks about. In fact, 1989 was the least damaging major freeze of that decade for Florida's west coast. Jan 1981, Jan 1985 and Dec 1983 were all more severe.

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Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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  • 4 years later...

Found this home video on Youtube- here's what the landscaping at the Polynesian Resort at Disney World looked like in March of 1981. Quite a lot of damaged palms.

Skip to 2:27, 3:55 and 5:00 for some of the worse damage- Queens Phoenix, and Livistona chinensis quite brown- some more than others. Checking the weather archive on wunderground it says it got to 26, 24, and 21 deg on the 12th, 13th, and 14th of January in Orlando.

 

 

Edited by Opal92
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On 1/18/2014, 11:37:26, SubTropicRay said:

That winter was colder on Florida's west coast than the infamous Dec 1989 everyone talks about. In fact, 1989 was the least damaging major freeze of that decade for Florida's west coast. Jan 1981, Jan 1985 and Dec 1983 were all more severe.

Certainly seems like it.  1985 tied the all-time record low here, previously set in 1962.

Lakeland, FL

USDA Zone 1990: 9a  2012: 9b  2023: 10a | Sunset Zone: 26 | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962) | Record Low USDA Zone: 9a

30-Year Avg. Low: 30F | 30-year Min: 24F

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