Florida Winter 2021-2022

[Walt]

Two bird baths had ice in them early this morning when I did a  walk around check. I walked around my yard with a hand held digital thermometer and got mostly 33 (and tenths) readings, except under tree canopy where I was getting 34+ degree readings.

But the 10-day forecast shows colder temperatures this Saturday, calling for a low of 33 degrees in Lake Placid proper. That could mean at least mid 20s for me, as currently, at 7:15 a.m. it's 32 degrees (33 with hand held digital thermometer) at my place and 39 degrees up on the hill in town. 

The question I've been asking myself is do I want to try and put heating cables and insulation wraps on my coconut palm. I haven't done that in about 6-7 years (mild winters). 

If I don't protect my coconut palm, I'm all but sure it will be killed if it drops into the mid 20s.  

[Jimbean]

36F for a low between Melbourne and Palm Bay

 

[IHB1979]

Bottomed out at 41F in my yard around 12-1am. Temps stayed there until 7:30am, now 42F. 

[JJPalmer]

Frosty in NE St. Pete. Direct proximity to water meant the difference between the mid-30’s (inland Pinellas) and mid-40’s (Shore Acres, Cocina Key, Barrier Islands). 

[Hombre de Palmas]

I had 35F for a brief period at 5:30 this morning. It was 42F at 2:30AM. I was worried it would drop another degree or two, but it actually rose to 37F before sunrise much to my surprise and relief.

We walked the dog in the neighborhood, and vehicles had ice on the roofs as well as on the roofs of houses, but I did not see any on the trees or grass.

Nothing to do but wait and see how the landscape responds but I am not overly concerned.

This Saturday will be a nail biter as well, but after that it's looking like a bit of a pattern change out of this trough.

[Jimbean]

I didn't get the whole state unfortunately

[sonoranfans]

Coldest day this winter 38F low, the nearby warm spot was anna maria island at 45F low.  There was certainly a strong water proximity effect, but ruskin on tampa bay was 37F low a bit colder than my place.  No signs of any frost just before sunrise when I took the pooch for a walk.  None of my "10b" seedlings appear damaged in the slightest.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Being on the lakes, Belle Isle stations ranged 37-40 last night. Just a few miles away in other parts of Orlando, several clusters were 31-33. Next worry is this weekend.

Edited January 24, 2022 by pj_orlando_z9b

[palmsOrl]

Belle Isle, downtown or the I Drive vicinities seem to be the prime microclimates in the Orlando area.  Coconuts should survive in this area as long as they reach a good size between freezes or near freezes.

-Michael

 

[RedRabbit]

2 hours ago, Jimbean said:

I didn't get the whole state unfortunately

Awesome job @Jimbean!

1 hour ago, sonoranfans said:

Coldest day this winter 38F low, the nearby warm spot was anna maria island at 45F low.  There was certainly a strong water proximity effect, but ruskin on tampa bay was 37F low a bit colder than my place.  No signs of any frost just before sunrise when I took the pooch for a walk.  None of my "10b" seedlings appear damaged in the slightest.

AMI was only 45f? There don’t appear to be any Wunderground stations there anymore, but Bradenton Beach was doing well when I checked last. 

[sonoranfans]

33 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

Awesome job @Jimbean!

AMI was only 45f? There don’t appear to be any Wunderground stations there anymore, but Bradenton Beach was doing well when I checked last. 

I didnt get the tmp from W underground which also seemed to have a few sensors showing odd temps, couple spots warmer in land than right next to terra cierra bay.  AMI was the warmest site on the west coast in the dec 2010 28F cold front(my place), AMI was the same as miami a few degrees warmer than cape coral.  In a short duration radiational event AMI has miles of open water on all sides jutting out into the gulf.  Its not always warmest on the west coast in an advective event as in 2018, but it has a big water proximity effect.  Holmes beach was likely 2 degrees colder at most.

[RedRabbit]

18 minutes ago, sonoranfans said:

I didnt get th tmp from W underground which also seemed to have a few sensors showing odd temps, couple spots warmer in land than right next to terra cierra bay.  AMI was the warmest site on the west coast in the 28F cold front(my place), AMI was the same as miami a few degrees warmer than cape coral.  In a short duration radiational event AMI has miles of open water on all sides jutting out into the gulf.  Its not always warmest on the west coast in an advective event as in 2018, but it has a big water proximity effect.  Holmes beach was likely 2 degrees colder at most.

I’m surprised AMI hit 45f since it’s usually the warmest spot on the west coast. Based on what I saw this morning, St. Pete Beach held that honor on the west coast along with Captiva with both reporting upper 40s. Boca Grande wasn’t far behind. 

I was a little disappointed with Longboat, Lido, and Siesta Key in the lower 40s. I even saw 39 on Venice Island. 

I’m interested to see what happens next Sunday morning. We’ve got a cold week ahead so the Gulf will probably cool off some and might not offer quite as much help.

[RedRabbit]

My low in Westchase came in at 36.5f, but nearby stations had 35f so let’s call it that. Lots of frost on the roof, but I couldn’t tell if any made it to the ground. I probably should have covered up a few palms, but didn’t expect frost. 

Kenwood was around 38f and Nokomis was 38-40f.

Edited January 24, 2022 by RedRabbit

[RedRabbit]

3 hours ago, JJPalmer said:

Frosty in NE St. Pete. Direct proximity to water meant the difference between the mid-30’s (inland Pinellas) and mid-40’s (Shore Acres, Cocina Key, Barrier Islands). 

I was watching St. Pete pretty close and was surprised to see it this cold. Even in the Old Northeast close to the water was in the 30s. That area looks so tropical so I really thought the microclimate would hold better. It seems like unless you’re directly on the water St. Pete really isn’t all that warm despite having tropical plants/palms all over the place. 

One thing I did notice was the downtown heat island held strong. We normally don’t talk about the urban heat island there since there’s so much maritime influence, but St. Pete’s heat island made a >5f difference within the downtown core.

[JJPalmer]

9 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

I was watching St. Pete pretty close and was surprised to see it this cold. Even in the Old Northeast close to the water was in the 30s. That area looks so tropical so I really thought the microclimate would hold better. It seems like unless you’re directly on the water St. Pete really isn’t all that warm despite having tropical plants/palms all over the place. 

One thing I did notice was the downtown heat island held strong. We normally don’t talk about the urban heat island there since there’s so much maritime influence, but St. Pete’s heat island made a >5f difference within the downtown core.

I'm fairly convinced that the reason the Riviera Bay, North East Park, and Old Northeast neighborhoods are so cold is their low elevation combined with relative distance from the Bay.  Using the USGS map, North East Park sits at an average elevation of ~5 feet above sea level but is ~2 miles from the Bay.  On radiational cooling nights, cold air 'pools' here and the area is frost prone.  I'm fairly convinced that as soon as you hit ~20 feet off the surface, the air is several degrees warmer, as evidenced by several tall coconuts throughout the neighborhood. I took a picture of one of the better trees; you can even see light frost on the grass in the pic.

[PalmatierMeg]

43.0F this morning on the Isabelle Canal. Coldest morning of the season so far. Predicted low: 40F  so could have been worse. Tonight's predicted low is 42.F

Previous lowest low was 49.5F last weekend (predicted = 46F). I'm more and more sure my humble 80' wide south-facing canal offers a few precious degrees on cold nights.

Spent about an hour moving a dozen or so moving uber tropical potted palms (Areca, Iguanuras) indoors yesterday. Also zipped up the mini-greenhouses I got last fall. Hope they do the job. They stay zipped until the chilly nights pass.

I saw on the Fox Weather app that in about a week we will see a predicted high of only 59F!?! I hope that is a glitch but is it? What say ye? Winter had been deceptively balmy until today. 

[JJPalmer]

1 minute ago, PalmatierMeg said:

43.0F this morning on the Isabelle Canal. Coldest morning of the season so far. Predicted low: 40F  so could have been worse. Tonight's predicted low is 42.F

Previous lowest low was 49.5F last weekend (predicted = 46F). I'm more and more sure my humble 80' wide south-facing canal offers a few precious degrees on cold nights.

Spent about an hour moving a dozen or so moving uber tropical potted palms (Areca, Iguanuras) indoors yesterday. Also zipped up the mini-greenhouses I got last fall. Hope they do the job. They stay zipped until the chilly nights pass.

I saw on the Fox Weather app that in about a week we will see a predicted high of only 59F!?! I hope that is a glitch but is it? What say ye? Winter had been deceptively balmy until today. 

You must live in quite a nice microclimate. Here’s a screenshot of Wunderground reports from the area earlier this morning. Quite a bit of variability. 

[PalmatierMeg]

1 minute ago, JJPalmer said:

You must live in quite a nice microclimate. Here’s a screenshot of Wunderground reports from the area earlier this morning. Quite a bit of variability. 

I believe so and that our canal contributes to that microclimate. Our house is located somewhere under the easternmost 39 degree button. Our back yard jungle faces south which is a great advantage on a sunny winter day. Siting of a tropical garden can really make a difference when you are parsing degrees.

[aabell]

3 minutes ago, PalmatierMeg said:

I believe so and that our canal contributes to that microclimate. Our house is located somewhere under the easternmost 39 degree button. Our back yard jungle faces south which is a great advantage on a sunny winter day. Siting of a tropical garden can really make a difference when you are parsing degrees.

Checking in from across the river, I recorded 42.5 at my house, north of that 37 button and south of the Edison Ford station which recorded 44 (they always stay several degrees warmer directly on the water. ) I'm 1/2 mile from the river, very interesting to see the gradient of temps from the water out past to 75 to Lehigh where some stations were down to 30-31. Also have noticed a pattern of southern Cape Coral staying just as warm as this area of Fort Myers, and North FM which is dramatically colder, despite both being north of the river. Wonder if it's all of the canals or just proximity to the Gulf.

 

 

[PalmatierMeg]

The Caloosahatchee River makes a big difference as does the Gulf. I am between them and Cape Coral's network of salt- and freshwater canals and lakes moderates winter (and summer) temps. By the time you reach I75 you lose all that moderating influence. Inland summers are hotter and winters much colder - 1/2 a zone or more. Most of the stuff I grow won't survive winters in Lehigh Acres. North Ft. Myers is its own anomaly. It is hotter in summer, colder in winter and gets significantly more rain than we do only a few miles to the southwest. We've been known to have a rain-free dome over our house at the beginning of rainy season when everyone else gets flooded out. Late spring drought messes with flowering of many of our palms. I don't get it.

[Walt]

[Aceraceae]

10 hours ago, Walt said:

After 24 years living here, I realize I must be in the coldest part of Highlands County. I say that as I always thought Archbold Biological Station (10 mile south of me) was. But today I'm running 6 degrees colder at 3:00 a.m. Up in town at the Lake Placid Elementary School (that has a STEM weather station tied into Weather underground's network is running 10 degrees warmer than at my place.  And this in no fluke as I've been comparing my low temperatures every morning this winter. Up in town is 70 feet higher in elevation than at my place, and I know from years past that would make at least 7 degrees difference (warmer) than at my place. 

I have three digital thermometers. One is in a Stevenson screen.  The other is tied inside a firebush. The other is hand held.  The one in the Stevenson screen is giving me my lowest reading. The sensor in my firebush (hanging from a limb) is the reading being displayed in the below photos. Its reading 31 degrees. It just ticked back up to 32 degrees. It's now 3:46 a.m. EST as I write this

What was your dew point/humidity at those temps as Archbold was claiming a saturation point above 35 F? 

[chinandega81]

Last night the wind blew off the Gulf from the NW so it kept St Pete warmer on the gulf side vs. the bay side. Same with Cape Coral and points west. The east coast was colder, lows 40s in Miami proper.

My experience is the forecasts always call for one cold night and then moderation the following one (tonight) but this is always overdone and the second night is usually just as cold. I am preparing for a repeat.

I am also concerned about next weekend with highs in Miami forecast to be in the 50s. I can't reconcile how we would only have lows in the 40s, under clear skies, if the high doesn't make it to 60. And the weather channel forecast has been consistent with this cold weekend for a while now. If someone follows weather models, please update the trends. Bring on the February ridge they were talking about!

[JJPalmer]

4 minutes ago, chinandega81 said:

Last night the wind blew off the Gulf from the NW so it kept St Pete warmer on the gulf side vs. the bay side. Same with Cape Coral and points west. The east coast was colder, lows 40s in Miami proper.

My experience is the forecasts always call for one cold night and then moderation the following one (tonight) but this is always overdone and the second night is usually just as cold. I am preparing for a repeat.

I am also concerned about next weekend with highs in Miami forecast to be in the 50s. I can't reconcile how we would only have lows in the 40s, under clear skies, if the high doesn't make it to 60. And the weather channel forecast has been consistent with this cold weekend for a while now. If someone follows weather models, please update the trends. Bring on the February ridge they were talking about!

Latest Euro and GFS.  It'll be more difficult to pinpoint a more accurate low until Thursday or Friday, but either way it's looking chilly. 

[chinandega81]

Geez, 30s down to Miami. Let's hope that run doesn't verify....but I recall a lot of our bad cold spells come in one, two punches.

[RedRabbit]

1 hour ago, chinandega81 said:

Geez, 30s down to Miami. Let's hope that run doesn't verify....but I recall a lot of our bad cold spells come in one, two punches.

It’s not looking good. I have a forecast high on Saturday of 49f which compares to a high of 54f yesterday. The Sunday forecast low is down to 32f.  Not terrible if it pans out, but I don’t want it to get any colder.

Edited January 24, 2022 by RedRabbit

[NickJames]

Was not a pretty night at my new house. 

the only green grass remaining is the rye grass seed I put down where the ground was disturbed from fence installation. 

The Bahia instantly browned and went dormant. 

[Bill H2DB]

Here in Holly Hill , a city embedded in the Daytona Beach / Ormond Beach area , and in the area just west of the Halifax River, I had a low this morning of 36.9 under the canopy , which is most of my yard .     The lowest temp that I saw under the canopy anywhere was 34.6 , and that about 2' lower in elevation than a lot of my yard .

I strolled the yard with a hand held digital , and in the open area near the street , where frost was on the ground it was 33 , and I scrunched down and held the probe about 3/4" above the grass , and it went to 30.6 .  There was rooftop frost , and frost on the ground visible in open areas.   A classic radiational frost .   I checked other PWS's in my area ( basically between the Halifax River , and US1 , and they were approx. the same ..

West of US 1 it gradually becomes colder , and the official NWS reporting station is wide open to the sky , and way out near I95 , and doesn't represent a good bit of the town very well .

The Beachside was about 2 deg. warmer yet , in general .

[Jimbean]

Unfortunately I did not get captures for the whole state for low temperatures this morning, but when I was looking around I noticed that Brevard was particularity cooler compared to everywhere else in relative terms; Brevard's temperatures looked closer to Volusia's or the Orlando area's rather than the treasure coast. 

Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie was mostly in the upper 30's while there were plenty of mid 30's here, with low 30's west of I-95.  Melbourne was about 3F cooler than Sarasota, Vero Beach, Fort Peirce, Merritt Island, and Bradenton, while also being the same or even a degree cooler than Daytona even. 

[ruskinPalms]

10 hours ago, ruskinPalms said:

Get out your sharpies and draw your lines for 9B and 10A for central FL this morning 

36F to 38F clustered around me at 6:52AM. Has been at that temp since at least 5:00AM when I woke up for work. No frozen dew or frost on the car windshields or tops, grass or palms in the front or back of my house. May have formed since I left for work though at 5:20AM…

Well, I asked my wife how it was here at sunrise. No frost/frozen dew on her car, the grass or any plants but there was frost on a lot of house rooftops. So far, nothing looks frost damaged in my yard but time will tell better. 

[ruskinPalms]

9 hours ago, JJPalmer said:

Frosty in NE St. Pete. Direct proximity to water meant the difference between the mid-30’s (inland Pinellas) and mid-40’s (Shore Acres, Cocina Key, Barrier Islands). 

I’m surprised to see so much frost there. Why would there be little to none here except rooftops and so much there and think it was actually warmer there than here. Surprising how these frosts work out. Anyone have any idea why?

[Jimbean]

7 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

I’m surprised to see so much frost there. Why would there be little to none here except rooftops and so much there and think it was actually warmer there than here. Surprising how these frosts work out. Anyone have any idea why?

Wind direction, dew point, and heat coming out of surfaces.  I've noticed pockets of colder air traveling from one location to another. 

 

 

[ChristianStAug]

Bottomed out at 36.5 here in the Davis Shores neighborhood across the Bridge of Lion's from downtown St. Augustine.  At 4:30 AM (37.8 degrees) there was not any frost on the cars or the roof that I could tell, but there was some ice on a vehicle and on the frost on the roofs by 7 AM.  I didn't see much on the ground. There was definitely some air movement all night which is a blessing. I have not been home yet to see but the zoysia grass, elephant ears and bananas leaves are always a pretty good identifier of frost. I covered my Bottle and King Alexander.  Just a couple miles inland and temps dropped to near 30 or even 28 on a couple Wunderground sensors.  

All-in-all this was an interesting event for sure. I am super surprised to see some of the temperatures across the state that were down in the lower 30s next to places that are considered quite a bit more tropical than St. Augustine.  The slow clearing of the cloud deck in Central Florida certainly did not seem to do any favors. We were able to rebound to 55 degrees by Sunday afternoon, albeit briefly, where others looked to be in the 40s under clouds most afternoon and they only cleared out by late afternoon/sunset. 

[ChristianStAug]

18z GFS from today has moderated the coldest of next weekend's winter blast to something about like we had last night.  One model. One run. Hope the ridge comes back soon!

[kinzyjr]

11 hours ago, Walt said:

But the 10-day forecast shows colder temperatures this Saturday, calling for a low of 33 degrees in Lake Placid proper. That could mean at least mid 20s for me, as currently, at 7:15 a.m. it's 32 degrees (33 with hand held digital thermometer) at my place and 39 degrees up on the hill in town. 

The question I've been asking myself is do I want to try and put heating cables and insulation wraps on my coconut palm. I haven't done that in about 6-7 years (mild winters). 

If I don't protect my coconut palm, I'm all but sure it will be killed if it drops into the mid 20s. 

14 hours ago, Walt said:

After 24 years living here, I realize I must be in the coldest part of Highlands County. I say that as I always thought Archbold Biological Station (10 mile south of me) was. But today I'm running 6 degrees colder at 3:00 a.m. Up in town at the Lake Placid Elementary School (that has a STEM weather station tied into Weather underground's network is running 10 degrees warmer than at my place.  And this in no fluke as I've been comparing my low temperatures every morning this winter. Up in town is 70 feet higher in elevation than at my place, and I know from years past that would make at least 7 degrees difference (warmer) than at my place. 

I have three digital thermometers. One is in a Stevenson screen.  The other is tied inside a firebush. The other is hand held.  The one in the Stevenson screen is giving me my lowest reading. The sensor in my firebush (hanging from a limb) is the reading being displayed in the below photos. Its reading 31 degrees. It just ticked back up to 32 degrees. It's now 3:46 a.m. EST as I write this

It's pretty incredible the difference a relatively small change in elevation can make.  This weekend looks like Saturday may not get out of the 40s during the day with a freeze at night.  I entered the zip code for the airport on Weather.com and they are calling for 29F there overnight and 30F for my own zip code.  Sunday is not supposed to be a picnic either.  If it isn't too difficult, I'd do the protection in the event everything is as bad or worse as what is being expected.  Then again, doing the protection song and dance gets old.

11 hours ago, ruskinPalms said:

Get out your sharpies and draw your lines for 9B and 10A for central FL this morning 

Nothing like a heated debate to knock the chill out of the area

10 hours ago, JJPalmer said:

Frosty in NE St. Pete. Direct proximity to water meant the difference between the mid-30’s (inland Pinellas) and mid-40’s (Shore Acres, Cocina Key, Barrier Islands). 

Wow!  Every bit as frosty as Bartow was this morning!  That's unexpected!

7 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

My low in Westchase came in at 36.5f, but nearby stations had 35f so let’s call it that. Lots of frost on the roof, but I couldn’t tell if any made it to the ground. I probably should have covered up a few palms, but didn’t expect frost. 

Kenwood was around 38f and Nokomis was 38-40f.

9 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Being on the lakes, Belle Isle stations ranged 37-40 last night. Just a few miles away in other parts of Orlando, several clusters were 31-33. Next worry is this weekend.

I had similar experiences to both of you.  My weather station recorded an absolute minimum of 36.9F.  That's the mildest reading I've found in Lakeland by a few tenths of a degree.  That said, there were a lot of 31-33F readings as well as some 29F readings on the map this morning.  The car and rooftops had frost and so did some of the grass, but the live oaks and avocado trees made short work of the frost component of this one in places where they could provide cover.  Some of the milder areas in Lakeland were similar to Red's reading of 36.5F.  Next weekend is looking pretty bad.

Here are a few stations that were pretty close to mine as far as temperature:

South Lake Morton - KFLLAKEL130 This station is close to downtown

GLD LKLD - KFLLAKEL290 This station is on the hill coming away from Lake Hollingsworth

Sun Shower - KFLLAKEL327 This one is up in the hills, so it was surprising it wasn't quite as mild as the others

As bad as it was, it could have been a lot worse - like mid-20s worse!  Friends don't let friends live NW of Griffin/Knights Station Road :

For anyone interested, I've attached a spreadsheet of the NWS records from the airports along the I-4 Corridor.  You'll be impressed by the readings in Orlando, especially if you compare them to nearby Kissimmee.  KISM is about 10-12 miles from KMCO as the crow flies, but look at the difference in the readings!

202201240000_AirportRecords.xlsx

[JJPalmer]

1 hour ago, Jimbean said:

Unfortunately I did not get captures for the whole state for low temperatures this morning, but when I was looking around I noticed that Brevard was particularity cooler compared to everywhere else in relative terms; Brevard's temperatures looked closer to Volusia's or the Orlando area's rather than the treasure coast. 

Vero Beach and Port St. Lucie was mostly in the upper 30's while there were plenty of mid 30's here, with low 30's west of I-95.  Melbourne was about 3F cooler than Sarasota, Vero Beach, Fort Peirce, Merritt Island, and Bradenton, while also being the same or even a degree cooler than Daytona even. 

It’s not much, but maybe this is helpful. 

[ChristianStAug]

3 hours ago, JJPalmer said:

Latest Euro and GFS.  It'll be more difficult to pinpoint a more accurate low until Thursday or Friday, but either way it's looking chilly. 

Ooops same run and map I just posted. As of now, the NWS is beginning to moderate for my area for this next weekend event. Hope it is the beginning of a trend. 

[Looking Glass]

It was about 48 here last night, maybe a couple of degrees colder in a few spots around town.  That’s the coldest of the season so far.   Looking ahead to the 30th though, could be significantly colder, I wonder if we could sneak into the 30s here?  

[RedRabbit]

I saw this graphic posted from this morning and thought it might be of interest. 

 

[ChristianStAug]

8 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

I saw this graphic posted from this morning and thought it might be of interest. 

 

I know the official low at Jax airport was 28F so this doesn't look like actual lows to me.