Cold may be coming to Florida

[Hombre de Palmas]

3 hours ago, PalmatierMeg said:

Low this morning: 54.3F (predicted 53F). A swing of nearly 17 degrees in 24 hours. Current temp is 58F vs 45F at same time yesterday. It's those quick rebounds that saves plants in FL. I hope to go out later today to assess inevitable foliage damage from this cold dip.

I do feel your pain. The yard was looking really nice, and we have groups of visitors coming during the entire month of February.  I will be seeing the results of the event for months to come. I had damage from near constant winds gusting 35-40mph for nearly a week, and then two days of cold wind after that.

But, as always, it could have been much worse, and after a day or two to mope, I will get to work mitigating the damage, such as it is.

[Eric in Orlando]

Tues night/Wed morning low was 36 here at Leu Gardens. It hit 33 at my house in Altamonte Springs.

I was down in Ft. Lauderdale for the TPIE show and it was 41 in FTL. I actually found an iguana that had dropped out of a mahogany tree into a parking lot while walking to the convention center. It was about 3ft long, I moved it into the sun at the base of a royal palm. When I walked by later it was gone so must have warmed up and got unparalyzed. 

[Hombre de Palmas]

My family from up north has been chuckling about the iguanas. We don't have them here, one of the few perks of living in a cooler area.

The leaves on my Megaskepasma erythrochlamys are beginning to turn black on the edges, which is not surprising due to the combination of wind and cold. It's too bad, since I was just beginning to get a bumper crop of flowers on several large specimens.  The fronds of my Adonidias which had been looking very robust, are now curled on the ends and kind of droopy. Some of the new growth and all of the flowers of my Caesalpinia pulcherrima will be toast in a few days, the entire plant will then begin to show yellow leaves and partially defoliate over the next week or two. My helliconia psittacorum will begin yellowing, and leaves will brown out over the next week or two. I am going to replace most of those with Strelitzia reginae which is much more resilient here in cold weather. The foxtails, majesties, queen and roebelinii just shrugged it off. Most of these issues will resolve in the next couple months, barring another stretch of sustained winds, and another cold event, but the ugly Adonidia fronds are there for quite awhile.

Nothing surprising, but nothing fatal. Just gotta live with unsightly plants for awhile. Living on the edge has it's downside sometimes.

[RedRabbit]

I saw my neighbors bananas had some mild leaf damage so it may have gotten a little colder than the 34f I recorded here.

[palmsOrl]

On 1/24/2020 at 8:54 AM, Eric in Orlando said:

Tues night/Wed morning low was 36 here at Leu Gardens. It hit 33 at my house in Altamonte Springs.

I was down in Ft. Lauderdale for the TPIE show and it was 41 in FTL. I actually found an iguana that had dropped out of a mahogany tree into a parking lot while walking to the convention center. It was about 3ft long, I moved it into the sun at the base of a royal palm. When I walked by later it was gone so must have warmed up and got unparalyzed. 

I would have done the same thing Eric.  I know they are considered pests down there, but I have a respect for all living creatures.

[JJPalmer]

Drove around today to assess some of the damage. The coconuts in Dunedin are a little bronzed (see before vs. after pics below - taken 2 weeks apart). I’ve seen a lot of young foxtails, most Christmas palms, and some royals showing some damage up here. Everything looked pretty good down on the southern edge of the county though. 

 

 

 

 

Edited January 26, 2020 by JJPalmer

[NOT A TA]

On 1/24/2020 at 3:29 PM, RedRabbit said:

I saw my neighbors bananas had some mild leaf damage so it may have gotten a little colder than the 34f I recorded here.

Bananas and plantain show damage here without dipping much below 50 F. Some of mine looked horrible today, think I'll whack them off with a machete tomorrow. Will take a pic.

[RedRabbit]

2 hours ago, JJPalmer said:

Drove around today to assess some of the damage. The coconuts in Dunedin are a little bronzed (see before vs. after pics below - taken 2 weeks apart). I’ve seen a lot of young foxtails, most Christmas palms, and some royals showing some damage up here. Everything looked pretty good down on the southern edge of the county though. 

 

 

 

 

Sightly bronzed or not, those coconuts look great.  

So far I haven’t seen any damage here aside from the bananas. The foxtails, d lutescens, and adonidia all look fine; I’ll have to see how the coconuts look. 

12 minutes ago, NOT A TA said:

Bananas and plantain show damage here without dipping much below 50 F. Some of mine looked horrible today, think I'll whack them off with a machete tomorrow. Will take a pic.

Thanks. I know they get scorched below 32f and from what I see here I’d say damage is only 30% so maybe it didn’t quite freeze.

[kinzyjr]

Took a look at the banana patch today.  A little yellowing at the tips, but that's it.

[Eric in Orlando]

On 1/25/2020 at 11:50 AM, palmsOrl said:

I would have done the same thing Eric.  I know they are considered pests down there, but I have a respect for all living creatures.

Exactly, iguanas are FAR from being the most invasive, obnoxious and destructive creature in Florida...

[NOT A TA]

On 1/25/2020 at 11:15 PM, RedRabbit said:

Thanks. I know they get scorched below 32f and from what I see here I’d say damage is only 30% so maybe it didn’t quite freeze.

[Hombre de Palmas]

Tomorrow is the turn of the tide.

Our average temperature begins to tick up for the first time of the season, albeit at a slow pace initially.

 

 

[Palmaceae]

Cold may be coming to the south mid February, teens to the Gulf coast? Sure it will change.

 

[Xenon]

42 minutes ago, Palmaceae said:

Cold may be coming to the south mid February, teens to the Gulf coast? Sure it will change.

 

 

That would be apocalyptic almost 1989 level cold in southern LA

[Jeff985]

18 minutes ago, Xenon said:

That would be apocalyptic almost 1989 level cold in southern LA

Warmer in northern Kansas and Missouri than southern Louisiana. Interesting...

[Steve in Florida]

That model run has been completely revised.

 

[Hombre de Palmas]

Looks like Monday morning will be very cool, but not cold. The Euro model and GFS are far apart, and the shorter term models have yet to weigh in except for the NAM, which is in between the other two. Interestingly, the Euro has my area as one of the coldest in Florida on Monday morning, even though we are well down the Peninsula.

This has been a strange winter so far, with a bit of rain almost every night, which is bad for black spot, mildew, rust, etc., especially with cool nighttime temperatures. Despite a few cold/cool outbreaks, we still managed an average January temperature of nearly 66 degrees, which meets the criteria for Tropical in the Köppen Climate classification. Funny how our perception and reality sometimes diverge, as I would had thought we had a cool month.

The outlook for February looks promising, so maybe I can soon move on to fretting about drought, and then on to hurricanes!

[RedRabbit]

Curiously the warmest place on the whole west coast tonight is Bradenton Beach (not AMI, not Naples, etc.) 3 stations are all around 60f while it’s in the mid 40s a few miles inland. 

Edited February 3, 2020 by RedRabbit

[Hombre de Palmas]

At 6:30AM I have 42°F (5.5C).

The Weather Service called for patchy frost in the area, but I think I dodged the bullet this time.

By Thursday we might push 90°F (32°C).

[NOT A TA]

On 2/1/2020 at 8:14 AM, Hombre de Palmas said:

and then on to hurricanes!

Noooooo!  I'm still battling insurance company so I can fix the roof from Irma!

Was cool here last night and got down to around 50 F I think but warmed up quickly as the sun came up.

[Yunder Wækraus]

That’s crazy! We had to replace our roof after Irma, and we had to do it quickly so we could sell our house and move. Had I not had a cousin doing grooming at the time, I would have been out of luck. As it was, we still waited months.

[Palmaceae]

Maybe cold on the 25th, but the recent models certainly have not been accurate this far out.

[Palmaceae]

Still showing a cool down in the SE later this month,

 

[kinzyjr]

So far, the forecast has us in the 40s.  We'll see what happens as the days pass by.

[Hombre de Palmas]

It certainly looks like a cooler period for Florida in the next couple weeks. However, longer days and a higher sun angle should temper any bite. In a few weeks, this area should be reasonably free of any damaging cold threats....I hope...

I have been getting used to the 80's, so I wish this is the last rattle for chill.

I was up in Wisconsin for a few days last week, -20°F preceded by heavy snow. It was OK for a few days, but I enjoyed driving back to spring, and then summer.

[PalmatierMeg]

Low this morning was 48.9F. By 11 a.m. thermometer had shot up 16 degrees to 65F. Chances of extreme cold are fading fast so I can proclaim an ultimate low here to be 38.7F.

[kinzyjr]

Looks like a few chilly days and nights coming, but nothing below freezing for now.  If that holds up, the official low at the airport was 34F.  I moved my temperature sensor down near my Beccariophoenix alfredii and recorded a 32.4F there.  Wish I had another sensor to record the temperature at the same time in the coconut beds for comparison.

[RedRabbit]

31 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Looks like a few chilly days and nights coming, but nothing below freezing for now.  If that holds up, the official low at the airport was 34F.  I moved my temperature sensor down near my Beccariophoenix alfredii and recorded a 32.4F there.  Wish I had another sensor to record the temperature at the same time in the coconut beds for comparison.

It might be worth getting a digital laser thermometer. I think they start at about $30.

[Palmaceae]

Had a cold low of 42.4 this morning here in St. Pete.

[PalmatierMeg]

More chilly weather on the way this coming mid-week.

[NOT A TA]

6 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

It might be worth getting a digital laser thermometer. I think they start at about $30.

I have several of them and they never agree, so accuracy of actual temp is not their strong point. What they are good at is telling you the difference in surface temps of objects and/or approximate temp of an object. I've used them for checking the difference in temps on various parts of coconut palms on cool nights.

I have several of the laser temp guns because I used to build and rebuild cars for people. When I'd fire up a new build I'd have someone checking header temps to be sure all cylinders were firing correctly, one person checking head temps at each cylinder, one person checking when the thermostat opened and radiator fans came on. Plus a spare laser temp gun in case of battery or other problems with one of the guns. Hot objects look just like cold objects till they turn red (if metal), which is long after a hand would get burned.

[Hombre de Palmas]

The defining character of this cool/cold spell is the duration of the below normal temperatures. It is looking like four nights in the low to mid 40's here, though I will not be surprised if the  forecast migrates even lower over the next several days. On Wednesday, the short term models will start coming in with their data, and we will get a better grip on what is going to befall us. 

Too bad, I was hoping to ease into mid-March without a late winter sting. Some of my more cold sensitive plantings were just beginning to grow out of the damage from the last cold snap. I will be relegating those to a less prominent place in the landscape going forward. Live and learn.

[Jimbean]

I had a low of 44F this morning, not as bad as the 41F that was predicted.  

[Hombre de Palmas]

I was at 43°F, they predicted 39°. The Weather Service was talking about patchy frost the next two nights, but they backed off that for now. Two more nights in the low 40s, with cool days ahead. Another cold front for next weekend but maybe not as cool as this one.

[PalmatierMeg]

48.7F this morning. Predicted: 44F

Tonight, 49F predicted.

Saturday, 44F predicted again.

I was hoping this roller coaster had ended.

[Estlander]

38F this morning. A low of 46F predicted for the night ahead. Currently 62.6F at 1.20pm. 
It’s looking like last night was the last night in the 30’s this winter.  Weather forecast for the next 2 weeks ahead looks really good. 

Overall an awesome winter. Second back-to-back one 10A for us. 
My Nicolai Strelizia is getting ready to flower as well.  Not bad for Northwest FL. 

Edited February 28, 2020 by Estlander

[Hombre de Palmas]

1 hour ago, Estlander said:

38F this morning. A low of 46F predicted for the night ahead. Currently 62.6F at 1.20pm. 
It’s looking like last night was the last night in the 30’s this winter.  Weather forecast for the next 2 weeks ahead looks really good. 

Overall an awesome winter. Second back-to-back one 10A for us. 
My Nicolai Strelizia is getting ready to flower as well.  Not bad for Northwest FL.  

 

They are blooming nicely down here, and have been most of the winter, as long as they are taken care of. I am going to get a couple of them and slowly transition out my psittacorum which do not winter well at all, and are a lot of work to keep in bounds.

 

 

[Jimbean]

Low of 46F this morning.  Again, a few degrees warmer than expected.  One more night of this and it's over until December. 

[kinzyjr]

Official low of either 39F or 41F over the last few days, depending on which number you want to use.  Walking outside on the 27th was a big shock after ~80F the previous day.

[RedRabbit]

Last night was unusually here. It was 45f at midnight, then a western breeze brought in warm air from the gulf so it was actually 55f at 6am.

The low yesterday was colder, around 43f in the morning.

Edited February 29, 2020 by RedRabbit