Pre 1989 freeze local TV news snippet

[SubTropicRay]

Floridians might get a bit of a chill from this old, local Tampa Bay TV station news clip.

Pre December 1989 freeze news clip

[SubTropicRay]

If nothing else, you've got to love the newscaster's hair.

[bubba]

Gotta love that Disco look!The strawberry guys were working hard and fast and with good reson.Hope that Siberian stuff does not break our way!

[surgeon83]

That was a short little snippet. This week has been great, but of course when my family is here next week, it will be cold again. Just what happened in October.

What that lady said, though, is pretty much what they say every week on the news now it seems, at least between October and April.

I wonder how many VHS tapes my parents have with old shows and commercials from the 80s. TV sure has changed a lot since then.

[Jimbean]

I remember the freeze of '89 when I was a young boy. That is the one time I remember my mother dressing me up in several layers of clothing.

[spockvr6]

I went back and found the actual lows measured in the December 1989 cold snap and heres what I found-----

Orlando12/23

Actual: 42 | 25

12/24

Actual: 37 | 22

12/25

Actual: 48 | 28

Tampa AP

12/23

Actual: 42 | 28

12/24

Actual: 37 | 25

12/25

Actual: 51 | 26

Clearwater AP

12/23

Actual: 43 | 30

12/24

Actual: 37 | 28

12/25

Actual: 57 | 33

St. Petersburg

12/23

Actual: 42 | 33

12/24

Actual: 37 | 29

12/25

Actual: 48 | 33

[SubTropicRay]

All very nasty temps. The high temps are more eye opening than the lows.

[spockvr6]

All very nasty temps. The high temps are more eye opening than the lows.

Yes...nasty temps for sure. But, one can see why certain parts of certal FL look as they do and why 1989 didnt kill things off everywhere.

I cant find Tarpon Springs data (of course, I selfishly am most interested in this). The only thing I can ascertain is that on 12/23 is was 29F or higher and on 12/24 it was 25F or higher (as the reord lows for these dates were set at these values in 1973 and 1906).

I tried to also get the 1983 data, but it looks corrupted, so I didnt post it. However, the data that appeared legit seemed much worse than 1989. Tampa appears to have successive nights of 20 and 19F, Tarpon Springs 22F and 22F, Orlando 21F and 20F, and St Pete 24F and 26F.

[junglegalfla]

I want to say that late 02/early 03 we had some pretty nasty freezing temps in St. Pete. My first winter with my yard, everything melted and fried, especially the elephant ears. I have not had that happen since.

[spockvr6]

I want to say that late 02/early 03 we had some pretty nasty freezing temps in St. Pete. My first winter with my yard, everything melted and fried, especially the elephant ears. I have not had that happen since.

Bren-

I think that was Jan 2003. It was windy and NASTY! If I recall, it was 27F at my house. Tampa AP logged 28F, Clearwater AP 28F, and St Pete 32F. Keep in mind, the St Pete official reading comes from Albert Whitted, which we all know is the warmest spot around.

[Jeff in St Pete]

I remember that freeze, but I think we reached those low temps for only a short time and the temps rebounded pretty quickly afterwards.

The freeze in Feb of 1996 was much worse (I think it was in February). I was living in Pinellas County at the time and after that freeze the place smelled like rotting vegetation for weeks. I remember going to work at Rocky Point (surrounded by water) after that freeze and all the landscape plants around the building (even in sheltered spots) were melted. That was only my second winter in FL and I remember thinking that freezes like that must be normal! I bought a house in Dunedin that following June and all the huge hibiscus that had been growing in the yard for over 20 years had been frozen back to the ground and were just starting to resprout. I lived in the Tampa area for 12 years (from 1994 to 2006) and that was the worst freeze I can remember during that time period. Except for 1996 and 2003, I don't remember any other really damaging freezes.

[SubTropicRay]

1996 was bad as we had a freeze in early January (29F) and the bigger, more damaging one in early Feb (25F). 2003 was nasty too but nothing compared to 1996 or the 80's. Incidentally, the 1983 freeze 25th anniversary is upon us (exciting eh?). This freeze was worse on Florida's west coast (Tampa 19F) than 1989 (Tampa 25F) . Lost in the shuffle are the freezes of January 1981 (Tampa 22F) and Jan 1985 (Tampa 21F).