Floridians....Heads Up

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

[surgeon83]

Not so lucky here. Once again 3f colder than Ray. I really need to check this thermometer.

Tips of fronds sticking out of insulation wrappings don't show any more damage than they had from the last one. I expect tonight to get at least as cold, if not colder where I am.

At 6pm today my thermometer said 50.9 degrees and I kid you not there is still a solid sheet of ice over the water in my sailboat! Traveller's palm and newly planted 1g Dypsis lutescens only feet away from this have only very mild spotting on exposed leaves.

I need to sneak up to Ray's place, stick a fan in his front yard and blow the warm air down my way!

[ruskinPalms]

Went down to 31.1F about 1/2 hour after sun rise. I don't know when it went below 32 here or when it went back above, probably about the same time as it did for Larry in Tarpon Springs. It went down to 29.6F at the Balm FAWN station in my area. Nothing looks any worse than when I hit 27.3 with the last one. This was technically only the 2nd time I went below 32 this winter, but that 27 night is what really did in the garden, and the several nights in the 33 to 35 range with frost haven't helped either. If the wind stays up tonight it won't be any worse than last night here, if it craps out and goes calm then I could easily see 28 to 29 here again with maybe frosty icy stuff again in the backyard near to the moisture of the pond. By the way, the pond has not iced over during any of these events, but I bet the water is starting to get pretty damn cold in it by now.... A few of my damn bottle palms had decided to start to open new fronds when we had the rains before this cold, but so far the partially opened fronds look just fine.

[jasons]

Overall, it looks like it was comparable to the freeze last week - damaging in places but not totally devastating as many had feared.

Maybe this winter will be considered a new zone 'benchmark' for quite some time. If that's the case, I can live with that. It could have been much worse.

[bubba]

I drove through Immokolee a year or two ago and there are many very tall and old Royals,Coconuts,etc.I think the Florida warm-up factor and general heat have alot to do with it.A few days of cold generally rebounds quickly.

DavidL knows the Glades quite well I can tell.The farmers are always whining after any media reports of a freeze.(collect that Gov't $)I remember hearing an older gentleman who lived right on the Lake(O) and had never seen a freeze although constant reports to the contrary.(Bacom Point/Pahokee)

[gsn]

This seems to be the forgotten night?

I am already at 35.8F at 9:30 PM I was above that at 10:00PM last night 36.4F.

The wind has completely died,this is going to a radiational event tonight, with frost.

I hit 29.3F with the advective freeze last night,wouldn't surprise me in the least if I went lower tonight,even though the forecast is right around 32F

Bubba,

Unless they are fudging those numbers Eric posted are from the FAWN sites ,they are numbers right off those weather stations. Granted they might be very rural/farming as that is why the FAWN network was set up, but.....

Those numbers are not media reported numbers!

Edit:for wrong temp last night

Edited February 6, 2009 by gsn

[Tag]

Tonights looking like the worse of the two nights for me. Last night was forecast for 22, but I only hit 26.2. Tonight was forecast at 22 this morning, upgraded to 26 this afternoon, and downgraded back to 23 tonight. It's already 30 here!

[_Keith]

Tonights looking like the worse of the two nights for me. Last night was forecast for 22, but I only hit 26.2. Tonight was forecast at 22 this morning, upgraded to 26 this afternoon, and downgraded back to 23 tonight. It's already 30 here!

I am feeling for you guys.

[ruskinPalms]

Already 34F here 10:50pm and dropping fast.....No wind folks.

[tropical1]

Tonight looks worse for most stations in Tampa Bay area on weather underground.

[FRITO]

Jason, good to see you posting on the forums again.My mule you brought over is wonderful, thank you again for helping a fellow seminole! its soaring through these temps and im testing its abilities!

this weekend will feel like a heat wave once this event blows over!

31.7 on my meter at 10:57pm

[SunnyFl]

Just to play devils advocate.

Seems to me the heat island effect is a factor,however I would think that it would be much more of a factor in a radiational event ,than an advective event(ie.windy)! This was an advective event.

Is my brain frozen or does that sound logical?

Yes, it does make sense, because the strong winds of an advective event will spread the city heat over the surrounding areas, diluting the heat. But OTOH, in that city, where you have increased overnight traffic, there is still some heat being generated throughout the night - my example is Pinellas, back in the 80's there wasn't nearly as much overnight traffic as there is now - and that's continuing to generate heat in addition to the heat being disbursed from the buildings, roads etc. So - and this is just my guess - although it would play more of a role in a radiational event than an advective, it's still going to have a marked effect.

This seems to be the forgotten night?

Yeah, the forecast temps for tonight were a few degrees higher than last night, and we're not under Freeze Warning, or even a watch, for tonight. But we're colder earlier tonight than last night. Maybe b/c it's not advective, the temps won't drop off the way they did last night? I checked our hourly graph and the temps seem to plateau. I'll be happy if we just stay over 35F.

[Guest LeftCoastAngler]

05:00 and only 31F. It was colder LAST NIGHT.

~LCA.

[Walt]

05:00 and only 31F. It was colder LAST NIGHT.

~LCA.

Same here. Right after sun down my temperatures plummeted and were actually four degrees colder around 8 P.M. than the night before. But just after midnight they leveled off and pretty much held in the mid 30s until now. It's 5:26 A.M. as I write this and my temperature is 34 degrees.

I hope this morning is the last of the damaging cold. The warm up starts today to near 70 degrees for a high; high 70s for a couple of days with four days of 80 plus starting Monday.

[Guest LeftCoastAngler]

Still dropping though. I'm @ 30.4 now. Two more hours to go...

~LCA.

[gsn]

Same here at 9:30 PM last night I was colder than last night at 35.8F

At around 12:00 AM I was at 34F and pretty much stayed right around there until 4:00AM ,the temp has actually been rising since then. A very light wind picked up around midnight, maybe that was enough to mix the air,the frost is not even that bad as of right now. Cloud cover just missed us it is slightly offshore ,so that isn't the reason.

35.7 as of 5:30 AM

Edited February 6, 2009 by gsn

[Tampa Scott]

This freeze looks the same as the Jan.22 freeze. I went to freezing this morning at 1:50 am (Jan.22 hit freezing at 2:05am low was 29.4f) current temp is 29.8f. Light frost again.

[Guest LeftCoastAngler]

I'm on the 'upswing' already. 30.9F and climbing.

Bring on the 60 fer today!

~LCA.

[SunnyFl]

So far, our low has been 35.6, compared to yesterday's minimum of 35. So technically, Thursday morning was colder but only by a smidgen.

[bubba]

Scott, What I am telling you as verified by DavidL is that there are many microclimates near and around Lake O. This gentleman lived right on the water and kept meticulous records because he was a farmer who dabbled in Winter corn. It was not a hobby it was how he made a living.

DavidL was the poster who took exception to the Fawn numbers.I have no idea.My runs out to the Glades are limited to weekend visits to a certain farm.I can tell you with absolute certainty that Immokolee has Royals, Coconuts and many other old and tall Palms and tropical foliage(atleast a year ago). I bet you a dollar to a donut that the tall Royals and Coconuts in Pahokee and Belle Glade continue to stand notwithstanding these temperatures.

[gsn]

Bubba,

No problem,I'm just saying that those are FAWN temp numbers at those particular FAWN locations.

I'm sure there are places near them that are either colder or warmer than the temps reported by those FAWN stations!

[SubTropicRay]

33.7F this morning with a very thin coating of frost on car and house rooftops. Overall, the cold snap of 2 weeks ago was more damaging than this cold snap.

Brian, I haven't been to your place yet but think canopy is what adds the 3 degrees at my place.

[junglegalfla]

Under 32 since 5:30am. It's currently 31.5! So much for my luck

[gsn]

My low was 33.8F, but that was at about 12:15 AM

At 7:00 AM this morning my low was 35.3F

Kinda weird, very little sunrise drop this morning?

Also disturbing is that the NWS service exempted Pinellas county from the freeze WARNING, it was not even under a watch ,while the entire west coast south,and north of there was under a warning? And obviously as in Brens' case unfortunately, it froze in parts of Pinellas.

Northern Brevard where I am, was also under a freeze warning!

Edited February 6, 2009 by gsn

[FRITO]

my low was 24.8 this morning. I dont see any frost looking outside.

[Jimbean]

[Josh]

It sure is odd how the cold is dispersed. I was the coldest on here for south and central florida yesterday with 25.3, but I only got down to 37.2 last night. I think I have my thermometer too close to the ground, because I really do not have that much damage.

Edited February 6, 2009 by Josh

[Eric in Orlando]

32F here, I saw frost in open yards driving in to work.

Thankfully the temperatures stayed warmer than most of the predictions for both freeze events. Here is what we had so far this winter;

1-21 32F (windy)

1-22 31F (calm, frost in open areas)

1-23 34F (calm, frost in open areas)

2-5 30F (windy)

2-6 32F (calm, frost in open areas)

[SubTropicRay]

Bren,

I don't think a marginal freeze will damage very much if anything at all. With 31.5F, the duration below freezing could be counted in minutes and not hours. By this time of year, the plants are hardened off to this type of cold.

Ray

[PalmatierMeg]

At 7 a.m. temp was 38.3 in the front yard. Then, in the 20 or so minutes to sunrise, it dropped to 37.7. Still, my low still exceeded the forecast of 35, so I am relieved. Thursday's low was 33. Now, I get to move/uncover all my plants so they can recover in more normal temps. Hopefully, this was our last cold spell of lows below 40. The plants & I are getting frazzled.

[falcon1988]

hmmm went down to 35-37 give or take with light frost my little archos are frost burn plus my coconut is a goner

noticed the bigger archotophoenix can handle light frost much much better then the 2-3 feet i have Little foxy ladies

undamaged hmmm leading toward more less tender palms if these don't make it.

[Jimbean]

It got down to around 37 here in Rockledge, and 33 in Port St. John.

[ruskinPalms]

29.1F here this morning. I think I created a wind protected cold trap in my backyard or else my thermometer is failing on radiational cooling nights for some reason. No new damage really that I can see. Everything that was going to live from the last one made it through this one too. Very minimal grass frost in the backyard, no frost in the front yard, some frost on car, heavy frost on roofs. Partially opened hyophorbe fronds look OK.

[spockvr6]

33.5F this morning and a freezing 31.3F yesterday morning.

[spockvr6]

hmmm went down to 35-37 give or take with light frost my little archos are frost burn plus my coconut is a goner

Matt-

35-37F and your Coconut is a goner?!?!??!

[SunnyFl]

Matt-

35-37F and your Coconut is a goner?!?!??!

Yeah, I'm not understanding this. There are coconuts over on 70th Ave. in Pinellas Park and they look fine. I drive past them every day on my way to work. If something's troubling your cocos, I wonder if it could be something else - isn't there a blight or fungus that becomes more active in cool weather?

Hey Larry - something unusual happened last night. St. Pete/Clw airport reported one degree warmer than Albert Whitted. I don't think that happens often, what do you make of it?

[falcon1988]

Matt-

35-37F and your Coconut is a goner?!?!??!

Yeah, I'm not understanding this. There are coconuts over on 70th Ave. in Pinellas Park and they look fine. I drive past them every day on my way to work. If something's troubling your cocos, I wonder if it could be something else - isn't there a blight or fungus that becomes more active in cool weather?

Hey Larry - something unusual happened last night. St. Pete/Clw airport reported one degree warmer than Albert Whitted. I don't think that happens often, what do you make of it?

hey SunnyFL/ spockvr6,

The palm is only a baby only 4 leafs and I had a light frost its burned pretty good not sure if its a goner

or not i was just saying and preparing thats all there some green left but not much it went pinnat around decemeber so its not a big palm its less then a year in the ground planted it in spring of 08 hope that clears up some miss information i hope it recovers for me

[ruskinPalms]

You wanna see a fried coconut? I'll have to post a pic of mine But, the damn thing still might just survive..........unless I hit the 20s yet again this winter. Mine actually has a pathetic little frond opening and another spear that seems to still be pushing - well, maybe not after last night's 29F but we shall see. I think my yard will be an interesting study on the survivability of many different palm species out there. So far Roystonea and Wodyetia seem to be worth growing here - and probably my D. lutesens will be fine too. Bismarkia has really laughed at all this thankfully, my L. chinensis show more burn than the bizzies. Bismarckia is such a great palm for 9B..... The Adonidia triple that I had planted next to the AC unit outside officially had all its spears pull tonight..... Uh, so when the heat is on in the house the whole system works in reverse? I think the outside unit actually blows COLD air when the heat is on. Damn. Live and learn....I thought it might be a nice micro climate there but - no. Adonidias elsewhere in my yard are rock solid with regards to their emerging spears and crowns, as are all the hyophorbes. I tried to pull lots of spears tonight and so far the only confirmed fatality from all this is the triple Adonidia planted next to the AC unit. The next most suspected death would be the coconut, if that thing pulls through this winter then it truly is die hard...

[junglegalfla]

My coconut looks fine, the normal sulking this time of year. The other two palms which look kind of crappy are my smallish bottle & Veitchia arecina. All look like they'll grow out of it though. Last year my Archontophoenix looked cold damaged but this year, look fine. As long as nothing else happens that's freakish..I think this St. Pete grower will come out with flying colors.

[ruskinPalms]

Hi Bren, My A. cunninghamiana has laughed at all this too with the bizzies. Did I get lucky and find some that are of the tougher variety? I hope so. I would love to distribute seeds of cold, frost and central Florida hardy A. cunninghamiana to all the palm folks around here. My alexes have been decidedly less hardy but they really are holding their own so far, I don't expect to lose them all. I have one alex that I mistakenly planted on the north side of my house that takes a beating every winter but it usually grows out of it quick - I probably will not chain saw it even though it looks like crap right now unless it gets stuck in a rut of throwing pygmy fronds....