Winter down under

[GottmitAlex 2,967]

1 hour ago, cbmnz said:

-1.7C this morning. Didn't freeze near the house at all. If this is as heavy a shot as this winter has to fire , it will  be a piece of cake to get everything through.

Keep us apprised.

[greysrigging 2,397]

Bit of frost up in the North Island too this morning....

Mangakino, middle of the North Island.

Edited July 2, 2020 by greysrigging

[cbmnz 405]

1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

Bit of frost up in the North Island too this morning....

Mangakino, middle of the North Island.

I once saw the car thermo dip to -6C while driving through that area early one morning on way to the ski fields. Oddly it might be the lowest I've seen a car thermo read, as all my trips to Europe, USA etc except one have been in the Northern Summer.  Have not seen the car temp readout on the ski field access road below -4C or so, although windchill of -20C is not uncommon up there.

Up on the Plateau ~1000m asl the only palm you see is Trachycarpus Fortunei although a Butia should in theory survive..

[greysrigging 2,397]

My son and a couple of his Darwin mates thought it would be 'cool' to campervan it in the Mackenzie, Otago and Fiordland regions.... in June ! ( 2015 ) They slept overnight in Twizel during the Polar blast  of 2015 and were lucky not to suffer from Hypothermia as the temps dipped to -18c or -19c from memory. My son ended up very sick and presented himself at the hospital in Queenstown with cold related illness. Silly buggers ! Flew in from Darwin to Christchurch.....

 

[sandgroper 1,205]

41 minutes ago, greysrigging said:

My son and a couple of his Darwin mates thought it would be 'cool' to campervan it in the Mackenzie, Otago and Fiordland regions.... in June ! ( 2015 ) They slept overnight in Twizel during the Polar blast  of 2015 and were lucky not to suffer from Hypothermia as the temps dipped to -18c or -19c from memory. My son ended up very sick and presented himself at the hospital in Queenstown with cold related illness. Silly buggers ! Flew in from Darwin to Christchurch.....

 

It might be cold but it's absolutely stunning scenery, just beautiful. 

[tropicbreeze 743]

[cbmnz 405]

Hard to believe these photos were taken this morning about 15metres only a few minutes apart. Did cover the Rhopie as precaution as it's looking so perfect atm shame to see any degregation.

[sandgroper 1,205]

What an amazing place WA is, our state's lowest recorded minimum was 0c at Salmon Gums and our state's highest maximum was 35c at Wyndham. 

[greysrigging 2,397]

Good morning Darwin......depths of winter, 23.6c ( 74.5f ) at dawn, looking at a max of 33c ( 91.4f ) this arvo. 
 

[Tyrone 2,161]

This has so far been a mild winter. Got to 20C and sunny today. Nights are single digit of course. But I’ve still got palm dart moth caterpillars eating some of my palm leaves. Normally they slow up in winter, but I found a big juicy one eating my Parajubaea cocoides leaf that I fed to my chooks today. 

[greysrigging 2,397]

A nice crispy morning in S E Queensland this morning.....
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/queensland-is-not-getting-out-of-cold/532021

[cbmnz 405]

Sunny but very cold and dry wind today. Got -3C forecast which have not seen in 2017.  Can only cover garden and hope. This large bungalow in town survived worse in 2009 when it was much smaller.

[cbmnz 405]

Air temp bottomed at -2.3C on my home setup, briefly hit -3C at nearby met site. Heaviest ground frost have seen since 2017, it was white. Looks like everything just escaped any damage ,would not have wanted it 1 C colder. The cloth over my prized Rhopie very close to house had ice on it unlike the frosts to date this year. But Rhopie underneath did not freeze.

[tropicbreeze 743]

Mid winter.

[greysrigging 2,397]

It's official...the Darwin Airport has broken the record for the hottest July day....35c ( 95f ).  Really has been a cow of a day with the DP's up a bit too in the northern suburbs where I'm located. 
My son and I have been out laboring in it stripping an old timber deck and loading it all into the trailer for some runs to the dump. I'm pretty well acclimatised to our heat and humidity, but it knocked me around a bit today....|

[sandgroper 1,205]

1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

It's official...the Darwin Airport has broken the record for the hottest July day....35c ( 95f ).  Really has been a cow of a day with the DP's up a bit too in the northern suburbs where I'm located. 
My son and I have been out laboring in it stripping an old timber deck and loading it all into the trailer for some runs to the dump. I'm pretty well acclimatised to our heat and humidity, but it knocked me around a bit today....|

That's bloody warm for this time of year even in Darwin.

[greysrigging 2,397]

2 minutes ago, sandgroper said:

That's bloody warm for this time of year even in Darwin.

That's the first 35c July day since records began in 1941. 2017 was our hottest July with 5 days above 34c and a monthly average of 32.6c.... so a full 2c above the long term average.. Even the nights this year have seldom dropped below 19c ( last night 23c ). So after 2 very poor 'Wets', we are all hoping this 'hot' Dry means a good wet season.

 

[cbmnz 405]

A camping ground down the road has 4-5 Bangalow about 1.5m tall. Looking this evening they may have gotten a little bronzed from the frost on Friday morning. Hard to tell as they were already struggling a bit in Summer from neglect and the drought. The 2x beautiful 10m tall Banaglow or possibly Kings at a private house down the road look like, "frost, what frost?", as do the dozens of mature Queens in the neighbourhood.

That one I posted a photo of above looked like nothing had happened on Friday.

[tropicbreeze 743]

1 hour ago, greysrigging said:

That's the first 35c July day since records began in 1941. 2017 was our hottest July with 5 days above 34c and a monthly average of 32.6c.... so a full 2c above the long term average.. Even the nights this year have seldom dropped below 19c ( last night 23c ). So after 2 very poor 'Wets', we are all hoping this 'hot' Dry means a good wet season.

 

Got to 36.2C here today. Tomorrow is shaping up to be more of the same. These are more like late August temperatures.

[Tyrone 2,161]

On 7/10/2020 at 8:17 AM, cbmnz said:

Air temp bottomed at -2.3C on my home setup, briefly hit -3C at nearby met site. Heaviest ground frost have seen since 2017, it was white. Looks like everything just escaped any damage ,would not have wanted it 1 C colder. The cloth over my prized Rhopie very close to house had ice on it unlike the frosts to date this year. But Rhopie underneath did not freeze.

Lucky.

This is the time we just hold our breath during cold still clear nights. So far I haven’t had a night below 2.3C this winter but tomorrow morning may be colder than that. Normally I’ve had a couple of frosts by now, but nothing so far. Still plenty of winter left.   Statistically the next couple of weeks are the coldest of the year and then winters icy grip starts to weaken a bit.

[sandgroper 1,205]

Supposed to be 21c and sunny tomorrow but with another cold start dropping to 7c. 

[cbmnz 405]

7 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Lucky.

This is the time we just hold our breath during cold still clear nights. So far I haven’t had a night below 2.3C this winter but tomorrow morning may be colder than that. Normally I’ve had a couple of frosts by now, but nothing so far. Still plenty of winter left.   Statistically the next couple of weeks are the coldest of the year and then winters icy grip starts to weaken a bit.

Not sure if you have ever had a frost free winter, have never had one here, it is unimaginable. But only 4 frosts of any significant 2018 and 2019 winters which was very low.

[Tyrone 2,161]

Well the official forecast was for a 6C minimum so I expected something in the 2-4C range. Instead the official site dropped to zero and I reckon we may have got down below minus 1C. 

Its 8.38am and my lawn is still white. The bird bath has about 5mm of ice across it. My Alacantarea bromeliad has ice in it. Almost all my palms in the landscape have those dark green blotches on them, even my P canariensis. Inside my shadehouse I’ve got Bangalows with dark blotches on them. Tropical plants should not have ice crystals on them. 

Will see how they turn out though. Some plants are just remarkable with how they recover from this.

So yes, I’ve never had a frost free winter here. But the frost can stay away now as it’s made it’s point.

Going for a top of 19C today. True Alice Springs July weather.

[Tyrone 2,161]

Some pics around the place taken just before 9am.

[Tyrone 2,161]

Frozen broms 

[Tyrone 2,161]

Bangalow and Hedychium leaf.

[Tyrone 2,161]

The Alacantarea has actually recovered a bit from an hr ago. The leaves had a weird twist on them but now they’re coming back flatter and more normal now.

[GottmitAlex 2,967]

39 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

Well the official forecast was for a 6C minimum so I expected something in the 2-4C range. Instead the official site dropped to zero and I reckon we may have got down below minus 1C. 

Its 8.38am and my lawn is still white. The bird bath has about 5mm of ice across it. My Alacantarea bromeliad has ice in it. Almost all my palms in the landscape have those dark green blotches on them, even my P canariensis. Inside my shadehouse I’ve got Bangalows with dark blotches on them. Tropical plants should not have ice crystals on them. 

Will see how they turn out though. Some plants are just remarkable with how they recover from this.

So yes, I’ve never had a frost free winter here. But the frost can stay away now as it’s made it’s point.

Going for a top of 19C today. True Alice Springs July weather.

Is frost a regular occurence throughout winter there?

[greysrigging 2,397]

14 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

Got to 36.2C here today. Tomorrow is shaping up to be more of the same. These are more like late August temperatures.

In fact Noonamah recorded the hottest temp in Australia yesterday as well as the hottest July day in Australia so far this year.

Edited July 12, 2020 by greysrigging
addition to post.

[Tyrone 2,161]

6 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

Is frost a regular occurence throughout winter there?

Yes. We can get frost anywhere from late May to mid September. 

[GottmitAlex 2,967]

4 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

Yes. We can get frost anywhere from late May to mid September. 

I see. So where I am is a tick warmer than your region. Here we never get frost nor snow.  Never goes to 32c. However we're handicapped by our consistent cool weather in winter.  That's our tropical palm killer.

[Tyrone 2,161]

1 minute ago, GottmitAlex said:

I see. So where I am is a tick warmer than your region. Here we never get frost nor snow.  Never goes to 32c. However we're handicapped by our consistent cool weather in winter.  That's our tropical palm killer.

Ok. We never get snow here either. However we do get well into the 30s in summer sometimes high 30s, but always with cool nights. We do get consistent cool winters here with high rainfall generally, but we are a bit dry this year. 

[tropicbreeze 743]

5 hours ago, greysrigging said:

In fact Noonamah recorded the hottest temp in Australia yesterday as well as the hottest July day in Australia so far this year.

There's still half a month to go. Only managed 35.3C today. But Kangaroo Flats reached 36.0C, just short of Noonamah's 36.2C yesterday. A dry air surge will drop the temperatures down over the next few days.

[greysrigging 2,397]

44 minutes ago, tropicbreeze said:

There's still half a month to go. Only managed 35.3C today. But Kangaroo Flats reached 36.0C, just short of Noonamah's 36.2C yesterday. A dry air surge will drop the temperatures down over the next few days.

Was noticeably cooler in the 'Burbs today ( still, 33.5c but was drier. ) I wandered around Holmes Jungle and still raised a bit of a sweat, but yesterdays 35c was pretty crook ! 

[Tyrone 2,161]

Damage showing up a bit later in the day.

[Tyrone 2,161]

More

[greysrigging 2,397]

This is from the town site station....I wonder what it was at the Airport ?
https://www.weatherzone.com.au/news/icy-morning-in-western-australia/532103

[Tyrone 2,161]

Hyophorbe indicas are damaged and will likely look worse over the next few days. They experienced harder frost before in the horrendous cold spell of 2017 and recovered. Officially this was the coldest Albany morning in 14 years and reportedly one of four events this cold in the last 78 years but for me this has been a slightly milder frost than what we got in 2017. Maybe the microclimates are working better. Noticeably my Strelitzia nicolai didn’t get any damage at all whereas in 2017 they looked torched.

[Tyrone 2,161]

Interestingly none of my Rhopalostylis sapida even got those dark green spots, whereas the R bauerii did, along with my Howea forsterianas, all my Archontophoenix, Hedyscepe, Sabal, Livistona, and even Phoenix canariensis. So if I can sunharden my nikau palms they will be great out in the open I reckon.

[greysrigging 2,397]

From what I can remember of frost damage in my mothers garden in Camden NSW, it was the length or number of hours below freezing as well as weather it was a 'damp' or 'dry' frost. Those earlier pics of yours with the heavy white looks like a damp frost, ie more damage. And remember, they measure the temps 1.2m or 4' above the ground. A zero in the screen could easily be 2c to 4c colder on the grass.... Alice Springs gives out provisional frost warnings at 5c forecast.
Armidale in NSW,  a renowned frosty place, used to dip to zero as soon as the sun set, so 5.oopm.... so about 15 hours of below zero temps which would completely torch garden plants.