Post Texas lows this decade 2000-2009

[texaspalms]

Our over-winter lows have risen conciderably in many locations normally unsuitable for palms in the past. I was wondering what the changes have been for the normal palm-friendly areas as well. I see that he hardiness zones have moved inland considerably but also know (at least for SE TX) that they still don't reflect a nearly immediate-coast wide move to 10a temps with nearly a unmolested 11a on lower South Padre Island for the last 11 years! Please let me know what your temps have become

Thanks,

Bryan

[steve 9atx]

Bryan

I'm inner loop Houston just south of downtown. From memory:

2000 - not in my house

2001 - 26F, 27F on consecutive nights, a couple of other low 30's

2002 - 27F, several other low 30's not necessarily freezing

2003 - 2006 - no freezes, 33F minimums

2007 - 30F, touched 32F probably three other times

2008 - 32F so far maybe twice

I averaged it out one time a year or so ago and came out at the

lowest degree of 10a for the previous seven years.

Steve

[epicure3]

Our over-winter lows have risen conciderably in many locations normally unsuitable for palms in the past. I was wondering what the changes have been for the normal palm-friendly areas as well. I see that he hardiness zones have moved inland considerably but also know (at least for SE TX) that they still don't reflect a nearly immediate-coast wide move to 10a temps with nearly a unmolested 11a on lower South Padre Island for the last 11 years! Please let me know what your temps have become

Thanks,

Bryan

Uhmmm....didn't they get snow there some 6 or 7 years ago around Christmas time? They had pictures of it on the South Texas PS website.

[steve 9atx]

epicure

You are right about the "Christmas miracle" of 2004. Here's a summary: http://nws.met.psu.edu/severe/2004/26Dec2004.pdf

The weird thing about this event is that in most cases, the coast was colder than inland and the south colder than the north. In

the Valley and towards San Antone, they got snow as much as 75 miles inland, while up the coast the snow petered out altogether

nearer the LA border. During this event, I had maybe 33-34F and a few melting flakes while 1" of snow was accumulating on the

beach in Galveston 45 miles away. I think Tad had it much worse during this storm than I did. Freak event in any case.

Steve

[Austinpalm]

Results for in-town Austin

So Far This Winter 28 degrees

Winter of 2007-08 25 degrees

Winter of 2006-07 24 degrees

Winter of 2005-06 23 degrees

Winter of 2004-05 24 degrees

Winter of 2003-04 29 degrees

Winter of 2002-03 24 degrees

Winter of 2001-02 24 degrees

Winter of 2000-01 26 degrees

Winter of 1999-00 26 degrees

Winter of 1998-99 26 degrees

Winter of 1997-98 28 degrees

Winter of 1996-97 23 degrees

Winter of 1995-96 19 degrees

Winter of 1994-95 30 degrees

Winter of 1993-94 26 degrees

Winter of 1992-93 28 degrees

Winter of 1991-92 26 degrees

Winter of 1990-91 15 degrees

Winter of 1989-90 5 degrees

Winter of 1988-89 19 degrees

These are all low temps from Camp Mabry, near the center of town. Even with the 89-90 low of 5F, the average low is 24.9F. Hopefully I have many more years of these kind of temps before another year like 89-90. I should also say that outside of town, the low temp probably averages around 19F or less, going by Austin-Bergstrom Inter. Airport. So I would not say that we have had really warm winters as of late. We have had several normal low temp winters without extended daytime freezing. While this is somewhat unusual, it still allows areas outside of town to fall in the zone 8 category, which is Austin's historical zone classification.

[NBTX11]

Our over-winter lows have risen conciderably in many locations normally unsuitable for palms in the past. I was wondering what the changes have been for the normal palm-friendly areas as well. I see that he hardiness zones have moved inland considerably but also know (at least for SE TX) that they still don't reflect a nearly immediate-coast wide move to 10a temps with nearly a unmolested 11a on lower South Padre Island for the last 11 years! Please let me know what your temps have become

Thanks,

Bryan

Uhmmm....didn't they get snow there some 6 or 7 years ago around Christmas time? They had pictures of it on the South Texas PS website.

It hadn't snowed there since 1895. 1895!!!!!! They got an inch of snow once every 120 years!!!! It did get down to the upper 20s that year, but other than that has barely dropped below 40 in several years.

Edited February 19, 2009 by syersj

[NBTX11]

Been averaging about 25F the last several years maybe decade or so. The last 7 winters specifically have averaged about 25.28 with winter lows ranging from 23-28F, a solid mid level zone 9.

[NBTX11]

epicure

You are right about the "Christmas miracle" of 2004. Here's a summary: http://nws.met.psu.edu/severe/2004/26Dec2004.pdf

The weird thing about this event is that in most cases, the coast was colder than inland and the south colder than the north. In

the Valley and towards San Antone, they got snow as much as 75 miles inland, while up the coast the snow petered out altogether

nearer the LA border. During this event, I had maybe 33-34F and a few melting flakes while 1" of snow was accumulating on the

beach in Galveston 45 miles away. I think Tad had it much worse during this storm than I did. Freak event in any case.

Steve

I got zero snowfall from that even here on the NE side of San Antonio. Have yet to see a flake of snow in the last 5 winter I have lived here, although we did have one ice storm in Jan 07.

[texaspalms]

epicure

You are right about the "Christmas miracle" of 2004. Here's a summary: http://nws.met.psu.edu/severe/2004/26Dec2004.pdf

The weird thing about this event is that in most cases, the coast was colder than inland and the south colder than the north. In

the Valley and towards San Antone, they got snow as much as 75 miles inland, while up the coast the snow petered out altogether

nearer the LA border. During this event, I had maybe 33-34F and a few melting flakes while 1" of snow was accumulating on the

beach in Galveston 45 miles away. I think Tad had it much worse during this storm than I did. Freak event in any case.

Steve

I got zero snowfall from that even here on the NE side of San Antonio. Have yet to see a flake of snow in the last 5 winter I have lived here, although we did have one ice storm in Jan 07.

We've had two such "miracle" snows. One is the famous Dec. 2004 and another this past Dec. 2008. In both cases the entire or partial upper coast (2008) received significant snow (for us) with temps barely at freezing or just above with no advective freeze following. My brother who lives across the bay from South Padre received 2" with lows only at 34F. These all seem to be flukes for a much warmer winter seasons that have persisted since '89. Any other with their winter totals?

[war_eagle]

Here is the data from the Pearland regional airport (14mi S/SE of downtown Houston).

The number in parenthesis after the lowest minimum temp is the number of nights at or below 32 that month.

2001-2002

Dec -no data-

Jan: 23 (4 nights at 32 or below)

Feb: 23 (2)

Mar: 24 (4)

2002-2003

Dec: 34 (0)

Jan: 27 (4)

Feb: 32 (1)

Mar: 35 (0)

2003-2004

Dec: 32 (1)

Jan: 29 (1)

Feb: 32 (1)

Mar: 48 (0)

2004-2005

Dec: 27 (5): (12/24: 2.8" SNOW)

Jan: 34 (0)

Feb: 41 (0) <-- 2.8" snow in Dec, then 0 freezes Jan-Mar

Mar: 40 (0)

2005-2006

Dec: 34 (0)

Jan: 33 (0)

Feb: 31 (2)

Mar: 35 (0)

2006-2007

Dec: 31 (2)

Jan: 33 (0)

Feb: 29 (1)

Mar: 32 (1)

2007-2008

Dec: 34 (0)

Jan: 30 (3)

Feb: 34 (0)

Mar: 39 (0)

2008-2009

Dec: 31 (2) (12/10: 1.2" SNOW)

Jan: 29 (4)

Feb: 32 (1) (So far)

Since the 2001-2002 winter, which had sub-25 temps in Jan, Feb, and Mar, the winters have been pretty warm. I'll trade the really cold low temps for a few freak snow storms any day.

The heat island effect is amazing. I don't know exactly where Steve lives, but my house is probably no more than 10 miles away and he's a good 3-5 degrees warmer on the coldest nights. I'm due south of him and slightly closer to the bay and to the gulf than him. Pearland is developing rapidly, which has it's obvious downsides, but that 3-5 degress sure would be nice!

Also, it should be noted that I've had several mornings at 33-37 with frost each year.

[texaspalms]

Any numbers from immediate coastal such as Galveston, Corpus, Freeport, etc?

[richtrav]

Here's a graph of the minima for the past 100 years in Brownsville. Notice over the past 18 years only 3 have gone below the solid black line, which represents the average long-term (100 year) minimum of 30.75F.

[jasons]

Here's a graph of the minima for the past 100 years in Brownsville. Notice over the past 18 years only 3 have gone below the solid black line, which represents the average long-term (100 year) minimum of 30.75F.

A picture says 1,000 words. I've never seen a graph like that but now I have this idea to create some for other locations. It does seem since 1990 the while line is riding a few degrees above all previous averages.

[galveston1602]

we havent dropped below 30 here in 12 years. actually, its wierd, we had snow but no bad freeze..

of course around here, the cold isnt the enemy I thought it was, the wind and salt is....

[Ed in Houston]

The NWS at Hobby airport in SE Houston reports an average winter low of 30 for the last 10 winters.

Ed in Houston

[texaspalms]

I think that it is interesting to see our official zone to be only 9a when most report 9b/10a figures for the upper TX coast. I know when Cocos grow to produce coconuts unhindered in the valley that they must be at least 10b or lower while they are officially stated to be only 10a even on South Padre Island.

[NBTX11]

I think that it is interesting to see our official zone to be only 9a when most report 9b/10a figures for the upper TX coast. I know when Cocos grow to produce coconuts unhindered in the valley that they must be at least 10b or lower while they are officially stated to be only 10a even on South Padre Island.

The RGV is zone 10A long term, just above 30F, but some areas are zone 10B the last 10-20 years.

[steve 9atx]

war eagle

Along with low overnight temps, duration, and daily bounce back are other factors in zone determination.

Here's a pic of a Royal in West U. a little less than 2 mi due west of my house (Bissonet at Weslayan).

I've been watching this palm for 5 or 6 years now as soon as I saw it peeking above the 7' masonry wall.

At first, I thought it might be a king, but I finally figured out it was a Royal as soon as the crownshaft started

appearing over the wall. Now, this palm is pretty hard up against the north face of a two story townhouse,

so as a juvenile it got very little if any direct sun. It cannot be more than about seven years in the ground

or it wouldn't have survived the '01 and '02 freezes. Scaling off the height of the wall and the house, I figure

it's every bit of 25' tall now.

Steve

[bubba]

Texas was definitely the hot spot this year but that graph makes it no suprise you are growing Royals in Houston.That is amazing.