Cold Front 2015 - Surprise!

[Moose]

David, models are sure moving around. I am now at 24,32,32 for 3 nights. Tough first night with 10 hours below freezing, but at least we might not have hour after hour below freezing the following nights. That is when the damage gets really bad.

National Weather Service has moved the forecast low downward yet again for my zip code. Coupled with the breezes, and heat retention benefits from the tree canopy may be diminished. The temps will be well into an acceptable range for the plants, however an anomaly drop of a further 5 degrees could be stressful. It is warm this morning and everything is getting watered. A well hydrated palm is more resilient against the cold.

[Ed in Houston]

NOAA has raised the forecast for SE Houston from 29 to 31 on Thursday morning. Weather underground is now forecasting 25 for New Orleans with NOAA forecasting 26 for the French Quarter. Round and round she goes and where she lands nobody knows. Trending worse towards the east?

Ed in Houston

Well here we go, NOAA moved the forecast down in SE Houston to 28. A 70% chance of sleet in Austin Texas on Saturday according to WU.

Ed in Houston

[SubTropicRay]

I'll take this all day long if it's the worst we'll see.

[Eric in Orlando]

Predicting just 40F here.

I see some crepe myrtles around here still flowering. Some Tabebuia have started flowering as are Southern Indica Azaleas and some Citrus and Mango Trees.

[Alicehunter2000]

Thanks Moose..don't know about the brilliant part.....but necessity is the mother of invention.

The children all snug in their beds....visions of tropics dance in their heads

[_Keith]

Pretty much all here will be on it's own, except I will bank the alfredii with leaves and throw a blanket on them, but this is their last year of luxury for sure.

[Phoenikakias]

Thanks Moose..don't know about the brilliant part.....but necessity is the mother of invention.

The children all snug in their beds....visions of tropics dance in their heads

Spooky scenery! same in my garden.

[Jimbean]

down graded to 46F

[_Keith]

Such a gorgeous springlike day out there. Hard to believe it is going to end the way predicted. But I have no doubt it will.

[Tropicdoc]

2 years in a row with a hard freeze. This sucks. My only solace is that I have nothing in the ground yet. It's all in large pots in greenhouses waiting for spring. Life in 9a. If it wasn't for crawfish and family (in that order) I'd have to move to Florida.

[Alicehunter2000]

Sunny and 61 F. At noon here....they are calling for 24 F. .....in just 14 hours from now!

64 F. At 2pm.....nice...lol.....poor plants don't know whats about to hit them

[_Keith]

Sunny and 61 F. At noon here....they are calling for 24 F. .....in just 14 hours from now!

64 F. At 2pm.....nice...lol.....poor plants don't know whats about to hit them

Already cooling here, winds picked up out of the north. Right now its sunny and 54 at least this one is coming in dry and not wet. Oh, and they dropped my projected low down another degree to 23.

This is not coming in like our traditional cold fronts from west to east, it is dropping straight down, hitting us almost at the same time.

[enigma99]

Hope for the best you guys. 80s all over California state after the cold snap we had. Thank goodness

[_Keith]

Sunny and 61 F. At noon here....they are calling for 24 F. .....in just 14 hours from now!

64 F. At 2pm.....nice...lol.....poor plants don't know whats about to hit them

Already cooling here, winds picked up out of the north. Right now its sunny and 54 at least this one is coming in dry and not wet. Oh, and they dropped my projected low down another degree to 23.

This is not coming in like our traditional cold fronts from west to east, it is dropping straight down, hitting us almost at the same time.

Just went outside and was gonna post how much the temps dropped. But when I checked it had only gone down a couple of degrees, but the increased winds made it feel like it has dropped 10 or more.

[Silas_Sancona]

Moose, I hear ya. Mangos are also in full bloom all over town here also.

Local Forecast still holding around 42F tonight ( we'll see), then back to 61F by afternoon tomorrow.

David, Keith, and Tropicdoc.. wishing you guys luck.. sucks you're getting hit for a second year.

-Nathan-

[Zeeth]

Forecast brought up to 43. I went ahead and brought in all of my potted coconuts, my P. henryana and my C. renda, as well as wrapped christmas lights and sheets around the growing point of my coconuts in the ground. It's probably a bit extreme, but I don't want to take any chances!

[_Keith]

Just went down to 44. That was a quick 10 degrees gone within 30 minutes of sunset.

[Alicehunter2000]

Hmmm...still not too bad here....windy

Last year to protect Bismarckia. ...getting too big

Wonder if the Ty plant and autograph tree will make it?

[_Keith]

Wonder if the Ty plant and autograph tree will make it?20150107_183338.jpg

Ty plants are tough. Mine came back from 2010 which was way worse. They did not come back from last year, which was way way worse. I bet it'll make it.

[Josh-O]

Thanks Moose..don't know about the brilliant part.....but necessity is the mother of invention.

The children all snug in their beds....visions of tropics dance in their heads20150107_083337.jpg20150107_083311.jpg

Looks like your back yard was invaded by ghosts...?

[Alicehunter2000]

Lol....thats what I've been texting too a buddy over in Crawfordville

9:30 pm....40 degrees and windy

[_Keith]

10pm and 37 here.

[Ed in Houston]

Thr coldest air seems to be east if Houston, 10:10 and 45.

Ed in Houston

[Jimbean]

12AM and 56F

[Alicehunter2000]

Wow!....feels like the bottom fell out....36 at 11 pm but feels much colder with gusty winds....sheets blowing off everything. ...for the first time I'm worried....gonna be a long night

[Phoenikakias]

Wow!....feels like the bottom fell out....36 at 11 pm but feels much colder with gusty winds....sheets blowing off everything. ...for the first time I'm worried....gonna be a long night

I tie up sheets around tied up palm leaves. It may not be ideal but it certainly is better than nothing and holds against strong gusts.

[smithgn]

Moose- You're right, thanks for the encouragement.

AliceHunter- Gonna be a long night and a long day probably for my palms. How long can one cover a palm up without it suffering from lack of sunlight? It's barely going to be above freezing tomorrow and I honestly don't feel like uncovering, then covering my palms back up. It was hard enough getting the dang things right the first time, I can't imagine my patience will hold out if I do it again.

How about potted palms that I brought inside? By tomorrow night, all of my potted palms will have been inside for 3 straight days. They're always outside and have never been inside longer than a day.

Update for me then hitting the hay: 18 degrees 2:30 AM. Calm winds, for now...

[Phoenikakias]

In every case there would be no direct problem at all for a couple of weeks.

[Moose]

Just went down to 44. That was a quick 10 degrees gone within 30 minutes of sunset.

The arctic blast off DOOM racing to your door

[Ed in Houston]

It is 6am and 32 in Houston. I expect the temp to drop a couple of more degrees befor a slow rise starts. The greatest penetration of the cold seems to be along the central gulf coast. Looks real tough there with temps around 20 and wind chills around 10. Zone pushers could have the rest button pushed.

Ed in Houston

[SubTropicRay]

41F at 8:00AM.

[Tropicdoc]

I have a weather station on a five foot pole in my south facing new yard under a live oak bottomed out at 27 brrrrrrr

[Alicehunter2000]

Once again......sucker punched here......I'm depressed

21 was my low at around 6am.....going on 8 hours below freezing

Wind gust up to 25mph .....so some sheets didn't make it

Stuff already getting that weird dark green color......

Another year of damaged plants.....

[Jimbean]

We were doing okay up until 6:30AM at 48F. Then the bottom dropped out right before the sun came up and it bottomed out to 42F.

[PalmatierMeg]

Low was 47.1 (prediction was 43). Now 49.6. Winds are howling out there. Looks like east coast FL got the lowest temps

[Jimbean]

No just Brevard county. I think it had something to do with the high pressure moving over us.

[Zeeth]

Bottomed out at 40F, now slowly moving back up.

[Eric in Orlando]

Dropped to 39F right after sunrise. The lowest it had been here until last night had been 42F.

[Jimbean]

Winds have really kicked up since about 6:30 AM.

It is warming up nicely. It is almost 60F already.

[_Keith]

Once again......sucker punched here......I'm depressed

21 was my low at around 6am.....going on 8 hours below freezing

Wind gust up to 25mph .....so some sheets didn't make it

Stuff already getting that weird dark green color......

Another year of damaged plants.....

David, this thing must definitely be slightly east of us, because we bottomed out at 24 same time. I am shocked that you were colder than here.