Polar vortex Palms in Portland - First round

[Chester B]

Yesterday afternoon we went an overnight freezing for a bit so I went to try and knock some ice off the palms. Early in the evening it started raining again and the temperatures dropped so when I woke up again - you guessed it more ice. All the palm crowns I was able to clean out have iced over again. And to top it off temps will remain cold today - and wait for it - Another ice storm!!  We had ice then some snow and then a ton of ice  that snow layer in the sandwich has  now turned to solid ice  it actually looks worse today.  Any sort of travel would be totally stupid  

On a positive note our power got restored last night so we have heat other than from our fireplaces  No internet/TV but I can live without that  Tomorrow is when we expect a real warm up back to normal temps and rain every day for the foreseeable future so I can forget about spraying fungicide in the crowns of the palms for a while  

 

[Chester B]

This is what the inches of ice look like. Second pick shows a couple Chamaerops and an 7’ olive tree bent to the ground. 

[Chester B]

Needle palm, Trachycarpus, Yucca and a few shrubs. 

[SailorBold]

Interesting.. so this looks like it may have been predicted since december??? The instability i mean..  Crap. I hope this doesn't happen again.. i need to do some reading..

[Chester B]

30’ Eucalyptus perriniana bent to the ground. How it hasn’t broken yet is a mystery to me  

Edited February 14, 2021 by Chester B

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, SailorBold said:

Interesting.. so this looks like it may have been predicted since december??? The instability i mean..  Crap. I hope this doesn't happen again.. i need to do some reading..

Sort of.. The potential for the cold?, yes... Where it decided to go/ resultant severity of impacts in X region?  ..not something that can be predicted 100%.  Other factors often come into play that can have significant influence as well..   Reverse is true as well in the summer ( IE:  last summers' horrible Monsoon/ exceptional heat <here> )

Current episode of extreme cold over Texas/Plains states could have landed on top of us ( and by "us" i mean pretty much everyone from San Francisco to Denver and south into the western half of Mexico ) or, anchored itself over the east coast, well into FL.  Just depends where the path of least resistance/ ideal dynamics end up setting up..  Unfortunately, Plains/ Texas are often the easiest path when these air masses get knocked around.  New Mexico is in that " Could get nailed ( to some degree ) or watch it slide on past, un-effected"  zone..  Surprised some of the cold isn't trying to slip further west into far southern AZ.

..Regardless, sucks wherever it heads, but just the luck of the draw sometimes..

[RJ]

2 hours ago, Chester B said:

30’ Eucalyptus perriniana bent to the ground. How it hasn’t broken yet is a mystery to me  

 

So this is what the white birches do up north when we has ice storms. The tip of the tree will go right to the ground. They "spring" back some but never straighten back out from my experience 100%. Not sure what the Eucalyptus will do. On the bright side that probably on a few years old considering how fast they grow.  

[ColdBonsai]

That's one of the worst ice storms I've seen. We're just staring our second/third round of snow but it should stay above freezing at least.

Makes me want to really move someplace warm as if I didn't already. Now just to get the wife on board but she's out snowshoeing aka it's a lost cause

Edited February 14, 2021 by ColdBonsai

[Trustandi]

Thank goodness, you got the power back. Maybe the eucalyptus perriniana will go back straight up but it has a weeping tendency though.

[Swolte]

6 hours ago, Chester B said:

Early in the evening it started raining again and the temperatures dropped so when I woke up again - you guessed it more ice. All the palm crowns I was able to clean out have iced over again. And to top it off temps will remain cold today - and wait for it - Another ice storm!!

Dang, the universe has it out for you! Glad power is back! Stay safe!


 

Edited February 15, 2021 by Swolte

[Chester B]

Sad news is the power went back out around noon today. Went for a walkabout and my neighborhood looks like a tornado went through it. Nothing but huge cracks and pops all around as we border on a large forest on 3 sides. 100’ Doug fir dropping branches and ice chunks the size of bowling balls is terrifying. Surprisingly the only trees that seem to have no damage are the redwoods. Power came back on tonight thankfully but we are experiencing our third ice storm overnight in as many days. The arborists probably have a years worth of work lined up for them. No idea on how my palms will fare as they are still encased in 1+” of ice. All I know is my neighborhood will look vastly different this summer. 

[KDubU]

That reminds me so much of the big ice storm we lived through back in ‘98. Lived for 5 weeks without power and just a wood stove. The trees took decades to come back and those explosions when the maples and ashes cracked were scary. Hope you palms survive and that your other trees are able to get back straight.

From 1998, Eastern Ontario.

 

[RJ]

39 minutes ago, KDubU said:

That reminds me so much of the big ice storm we lived through back in ‘98. Lived for 5 weeks without power and just a wood stove. The trees took decades to come back and those explosions when the maples and ashes cracked were scary. Hope you palms survive and that your other trees are able to get back straight.

From 1998, Eastern Ontario.

 

 

Yes that was 1998. That same storm affected northern New England as well. Much of our power comes from Hydro Quebec where as you can see the infrastructure was decimated. 

 

   

[Paradise Found]

How are the other palms fairing ? (feather palms)

My low last night monday morning, was 36 f and half of the 14" of snow melted. A few tall chamaedora radicalis broke a few leaves otherwise their ok. 

 

[Chester B]

Today was a warm one, 50f. Significant melting and I walked around the. Neighborhood. Looks like a tornado went through. Fortunately my power was restored for the second time but we still have no internet and a very limited cell signal, so I am unable to post photos or videos. I think I am fortunate that most of my plants are young and more bendy.  I am surprised at how well some have bounced backed after being under over an 1” of ice. The older landscaping in the neighborhood looks terrible and was severely damaged. Still 300,000 without power and we’re under a state of emergency. Power crews from at least 4 states have shown up to help. 
 

All the palms have defrosted and a warm southerly wind helped to fluff them back up. If I don’t have any fungal issues then for the most part they handled it well. The big surprise were my Schefflera, even with their big leaves and tropical look they look flawless. 

[Paradise Found]

Good to hear your plants are going to be ok and the power is back on, thats a big one! Schefflera are pretty tough they can take a beating and still bounce back like nothing happen. Glad things are looking up! 

[Paradise Found]

10 minutes ago, Paradise Found said:

Good to hear your plants are going to be ok and the power is back on, thats a big one! Schefflera are pretty tough they can take a beating and still bounce back like nothing happen. Glad things are looking up! 

Also check out Dallas Tx low tonight they are all ready at 7F 11:15pm their time, yikes that some serious messed up temperature! 

[Chester B]

14 minutes ago, Paradise Found said:

Also check out Dallas Tx low tonight they are all ready at 7F 11:15pm their time, yikes that some serious messed up temperature! 

I know, horrible. Hard to imagine it being that cold, I was there one year and it went into the 20s and it was a total disaster but short lived. The one bad day I didn’t go to work or out in general until temps warmed up. 

Here we went down to 24F one night and Saturday didn’t go above freezing. From a temperature perspective it wasn’t too bad, just the sheer weight of ice was the main issue. The only benefit is my neighbor has a giant Cedrus deodora that ruins my view of the surrounding hills and mountains and it lost all the branches facing their house. I spoke to them today and they are going to cut it down!  Always a silver lining I guess. 
 

My biggest paw paw snapped in half which was surprising considering it doesn’t have any leaves. I’ve been waiting for 5 years for this thing to finally fruit and I know this was the year. Eucalyptus neglecta snapped in half too and I have a number of other trees still bent over that I hope will straighten out. My two street trees are toast though. Probably lost 50% or more of the branches. 

[SailorBold]

On 2/14/2021 at 11:27 AM, Silas_Sancona said:

Sort of.. The potential for the cold?, yes... Where it decided to go/ resultant severity of impacts in X region?  ..not something that can be predicted 100%.  Other factors often come into play that can have significant influence as well..   Reverse is true as well in the summer ( IE:  last summers' horrible Monsoon/ exceptional heat <here> )

Current episode of extreme cold over Texas/Plains states could have landed on top of us ( and by "us" i mean pretty much everyone from San Francisco to Denver and south into the western half of Mexico ) or, anchored itself over the east coast, well into FL.  Just depends where the path of least resistance/ ideal dynamics end up setting up..  Unfortunately, Plains/ Texas are often the easiest path when these air masses get knocked around.  New Mexico is in that " Could get nailed ( to some degree ) or watch it slide on past, un-effected"  zone..  Surprised some of the cold isn't trying to slip further west into far southern AZ.

..Regardless, sucks wherever it heads, but just the luck of the draw sometimes..

Nathan..  did all this happen because of a permafrost fart?  I need to blame something.

Edited February 16, 2021 by SailorBold

[Silas_Sancona]

1 minute ago, SailorBold said:

Nathan..  did all this happen because of a permafrost fart?

Doubt it. Symptom of Arctic Amplification? ..perhaps?.. Regardless,  it stinks. lol

[SailorBold]

9 minutes ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Doubt it. Symptom of Arctic Amplification? ..perhaps?.. Regardless,  it stinks. lol

Butterfly poon?