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Persistent Cold Air in Florida


gsytch

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Light NW winds still holding up, which is keeping my area OK for the moment.....~38-39F.

But, Ive learned too many times that all it takes is a slight shift in winds, or their dying off completely, for things to get cold very quickly.

post-200-1263174427_thumb.png

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Larry, you guys are doing good so far down there, and I noticed that NOAA raised the forecast for tonight back to 30 or more, depending on where on the point forecast you click. This is good, since I planted a coconut about 2 years ago at my church down there in Dunedin (about 5 blocks from the intercoastal). It wasn't looking so hot today, probably 50% leaf burn, but it's still only about 4ft overall with no trunk yet.

Just looked at a Dunedin weather station that is close to where I go for church (just north of union st.), and they got to 28F last night! Larry, you've got a pretty good microclimate there. I know that you said St. Pete is normally warmer, but both APs are basically IN the water. Considering that you were only 3F colder than St. Pete/Clw AP, that's pretty good!

It all depends on which way the wind blows (or doesnt).

If the air is dead calm, I am WAY WAY colder than Albert Whitted AP (downtown St Pete) and merely WAY colder than the Clearwater AP.

If the winds are NW, or even mostly N, some component of the wind still passes over the Gulf before it hits my part of Tarpon Springs, so the area stays a little warmer.

Current Brooksville FAWN readings show a huge gradient:

2ft: 26.8F

6ft: 31F

A number of years ago, on a dead calm night, I measured 34F at 6 ft and 28F at the ground!

Edit: The station was 'E. of Dunedin Marina' which is always low (too low IMO). They must have their sensor on the ground or something...

Ive watched that station in years past as well....and I agree it does not match other area stations so something is amiss.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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How can Tampa be at 34F at 7PM? Is that in a cold microclimate or sink hole or something? That doesn't seem correct.

IMO, something is whack with the Tampa AP station lately. 9 times out of 10, its warmer than other nearby stations. Yet, through this cold front, its been colder, sometimes drastically so.

Not sure what to make of this.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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The local weathercasters have Cape Coral dropping to 28, which would be the lowest I've seen since I moved here in 1993.

But the idiots at Weather.com have me dropping to 25! That's 1 degree off the all-time, once a century low of 24 for Fort Myers. And that record dates back decades. So what are they smoking at Weather.com? Or do they have the Cape confused with Palmdale?

Current temp is 42.1.

Weather.com has Tarpon Springs forecast the same.....25F! I guess we shall see........

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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So, is this an advective freeze situation or a radiation feeze situation or a combo of both?

Good question.....my vote is that it stays windy though!

Looks like some areas are calm right now while others have moderate winds.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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So, is this an advective freeze situation or a radiation feeze situation or a combo of both?

Good question.....my vote is that it stays windy though!

Looks like some areas are calm right now while others have moderate winds.

Interesting, we were at 23.5* at 9:00 and dead calm... there is some "slight" wind movement now and we are back up to 24.7* at 9:20. I'm hoping the wind will pick up a bit... we were dropping like a rock and it was dead calm for a while.

Edited by JayW

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Qoute "something is whack with the Tampa AP station lately. 9 times out of 10, its warmer than other nearby stations. Yet, through this cold front, its been colder, sometimes drastically so."

The deal with the TPA airport I think is that most or all of the forest/vegetation on the north side has been removed for construction. Thus it is one huge open expanse of grass and concrete now. I would say this has effected the temps. That is my hypothesis anyway.

NW Hillsborough County, FL (Near Tampa)

10 miles east of the Gulf of Mexico

Border of Zone 9b/10a

Lakefront Microclimate

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NWS just updated a little while ago.

Albert Whitted Airport 38F

St. Pete/Clearwater Airport 37F

and 37F at our house with very light wind, felt as if it were out of the east. which isn't very good.

On Accuwx site, the headline was that tonight would be the worst freeze in FL since 1989. :angry:

St. Pete

Zone - a wacked-out place between 9b & 10

Elevation = 44' - not that it does any good

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Weather update: It hit a low of 31 briefly here in Loxahatchee (Acreage) 16 miles inland from West Palm Beach. The damage I can see so far is

Pritchardia Pacifica : 50 to 70 % leaf burn

Geiger tree : 70% percent leaf burn

Coconuts 20% leaf burn - Maybe more as things warm up

Hot and humid Loxahatchee Florida. 16 miles inland from

West Palm Beach in Palm Beach County

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I am ready to go outside and double check my thermometers, because I have been holding at 33-34 for 4 hours now, and it is just after 1am. I am not complaining, I just want to know I am actually at the temp I am being told....

Christian Faulkner

Venice, Florida - South Sarasota County.

www.faulknerspalms.com

 

Μολὼν λάβε

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I just took a quick run around the yard. No frost or ice ANYWHERE. Still a fairly good breeze and cloud cover. VERY good news!!!! Breathing major sigh of relief.

"Zone Ten," from your area & down from about US 441 & east should have your similar report. West of your area to Okeechobee it looks like about 30 F. West of Okeechobee to I-75 (north) brings you into upper 20's; to I-75 (south/west) Alligator Alley to Immokalee: mid to upper 20's F. Thousand islands to Ft. Myers, looks to be about 30 F. Freeze for 4-8 hours. North of Ft. Myers...all mid upper 20's to near 30 F. at beachfront. VERY HOMOGINIZED TEMPERATURES DUE TO STRONG WINDS STATEWIDE.

Tonight MIGHT be OK for east 1/3 of Palm Bch Co. as well as eastern 1/3 Broward & eastern 2/3 Miami-Dade Cos. but only if cloudcover holds. We'll lose the wind later Sunday & it WILL be variably clear. By Monday night you might breathe even better! By Tues. night your breathimg will be better yet!

Dr. Paul

I'd feel alot more comfortable if I had your 37F. But I'm glad I'm not just a little further north and east, as they have been below freezing for a couple hours now. Looking at the NWS temperature graph, that Lake O heat island effect really helped us again in this area. Temps still dropping though and now at 32.9F, but those wind chills are brutal. Will be interesting to see how things fare over time with the cold, wind chills, and extended cold spell. This is the coldest and longest stretch of cold I've experienced since moving here 12 years ago.

I hear you, Zone Ten! This is really going to be a "test" as I think we'll see changes occur to foliage over at least this next three weeks, possibly more! GOOD LUCK to EVERYONE!!

Paul, The Palm Doctor @ http://www.thewisegardener.com

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35.4 at 0522, seems to be in keeping with a station just North of me....sure it's going to drop like a rock but i'll have to wait until tonight to see, off to work at 0530...keeping the fingers crossed.

Rusty

Rusty Bell

Pine Island - the Ex-Pat part of Lee County, Fl , USA

Zone 10b, life in the subs!...except when it isn't....

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Wow! I woke up and it's 16.7*!!! My water lines are froze and I have no water! Looked on the porch at my fountain... froze solid! This is NOT good, folks... It's not daylight yet, so that's all I know as of now.

Zone 9 Central Florida

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It's been holding at exactly 28.2 degrees F since at least 3:30 a.m. It's now 6:42 a.m. EST. Hopefully, the temperature won't go lower.

Mad about palms

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Hovering right around the freezing mark......will probably drop down below by a degree or two as the sun approaches.

post-200-1263209156_thumb.png

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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35.4 at 0522, seems to be in keeping with a station just North of me....sure it's going to drop like a rock but i'll have to wait until tonight to see, off to work at 0530...keeping the fingers crossed.

Rusty

Rusty-

Pine Island is proving its worth tonight....the station on Bokeelia is reading the warmest out of any I can see on the west coast (outside of marine stations located at sea). Granted, its only 36F, but hey, thats good this morning!

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Qoute "something is whack with the Tampa AP station lately. 9 times out of 10, its warmer than other nearby stations. Yet, through this cold front, its been colder, sometimes drastically so."

The deal with the TPA airport I think is that most or all of the forest/vegetation on the north side has been removed for construction. Thus it is one huge open expanse of grass and concrete now. I would say this has effected the temps. That is my hypothesis anyway.

You know what....thats a dang good thought. Perhaps before all that natural vegetation "trapped" some of the Bay heat at the airport.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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I am hoping for a few weeks of warm weather so my coconut palms will recuperate. I have never seen such a long stretch of extreme cold weather since I have been here 26 yrs in south Fl. Global warming ? don't think so.

David

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Hovering right around the freezing mark......will probably drop down below by a degree or two as the sun approaches.

Any idea why I'm getting so cold out here? I can drive 2 miles up the road on a cold night and watch my gauge in my SUV go up 3-4 degrees!

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Wow! I woke up and it's 16.7*!!! My water lines are froze and I have no water! Looked on the porch at my fountain... froze solid! This is NOT good, folks... It's not daylight yet, so that's all I know as of now.

Interior Tampa is not far behind......looks like the Vandenberg AP in Temple Terrace is logging 21F :angry:

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Hovering right around the freezing mark......will probably drop down below by a degree or two as the sun approaches.

Any idea why I'm getting so cold out here? I can drive 2 miles up the road on a cold night and watch my gauge in my SUV go up 3-4 degrees!

Sometimes I can do the same thing here, and I cant always figure it out! What bugs me is the temp drops as I drive UP to my house. I sit at 23 ft and the road leading to my house, which is slightly west, is effectively at sea level.

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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From the Weatherground interactive stations:

Northeast Station, at 21 feet elevation 28F

Disston Ridge at 62 feet elevation 32F

Our thermometer at 44 feet elevation, and near Disston is 30F

Sucks. I think we've lost the bottle palm. Maybe the spindle too. It's been there for 8-9 years and was full-sized.

My husband just came back in from plugging in the heater inside the palm tent and the lights on the spindle. He says he doesn't think the spindle will survive. Makes me miserable, but got to put it in perspective somehow.

St. Pete

Zone - a wacked-out place between 9b & 10

Elevation = 44' - not that it does any good

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From the Weatherground interactive stations:

Northeast Station, at 21 feet elevation 28F

Disston Ridge at 62 feet elevation 32F

Our thermometer at 44 feet elevation, and near Disston is 30F

Here is is graphically.....picture says a 1000 words.

http://www.wunderground.com/wundermap/?lat...pix=0&dir=0

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Sucks. I think we've lost the bottle palm. Maybe the spindle too. It's been there for 8-9 years and was full-sized.

My husband just came back in from plugging in the heater inside the palm tent and the lights on the spindle. He says he doesn't think the spindle will survive. Makes me miserable, but got to put it in perspective somehow.

If you lose yours, Ill lose mine.....mine are all sitting out there fending for themselves. They didnt look very bad yesterday, but that was yesterday :unsure:

Larry 

Palm Harbor, FL 10a / Ft Myers, FL 10b

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Low was 16.7F in Spring Hill! I'm not sure if my thermometer is just low this year or what, but we were colder than most of the other stations around, including FAWN, which read 18.36. It is possible that the cold draining off of my roof was affecting the readings. Either way, it's cold, yuck. First 8b winter I've ever seen up here. Luckily the palms still look good thanks to the space heaters. There was a little finch under one of my 'tents' this morning hiding from the cold (awww)

Larry, looks like you guys escaped for the most part. Hopefully that coconut I have down there is spared.

Sunny, bottles are one of the more sensitive palms people plant around here. Mine go under the tent whenever it gets below 40F, or else it will spot up. One year they saw 32F for an hour or two when we were lazy and spotted up pretty bad. I think 34F, and for only a short time, is their limit to stay looking good.

Jon

Brooksville, FL 9a

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Low was 16.7F in Spring Hill! I'm not sure if my thermometer is just low this year or what, but we were colder than most of the other stations around, including FAWN, which read 18.36. It is possible that the cold draining off of my roof was affecting the readings. Either way, it's cold, yuck. First 8b winter I've ever seen up here. Luckily the palms still look good thanks to the space heaters. There was a little finch under one of my 'tents' this morning hiding from the cold (awww)

Larry, looks like you guys escaped for the most part. Hopefully that coconut I have down there is spared.

Sunny, bottles are one of the more sensitive palms people plant around here. Mine go under the tent whenever it gets below 40F, or else it will spot up. One year they saw 32F for an hour or two when we were lazy and spotted up pretty bad. I think 34F, and for only a short time, is their limit to stay looking good.

Same temp here in Auburndale (Polk County).

DSCF1149.jpg

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Some pics from this morning...

Flower bed is fried!

DSCF1152.jpg

Fountain on front porch froze solid!

DSCF1155.jpg

My roof is actually "not" white!

DSCF1157.jpg

And yet, at 16.7* my Bizmarkia seems untouched?

DSCF1161.jpg

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Other side of my flowerbed...

DSCF1151.jpg

My front yard, looking over to the Tenoroc Fish and Wildlife management area.

DSCF1159.jpg

Some of my Sabal Minors and Sabal Louisiana's out in the field.

DSCF1158.jpg

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Some pics from this morning...

Flower bed is fried!

DSCF1152.jpg

Fountain on front porch froze solid!

DSCF1155.jpg

My roof is actually "not" white!

DSCF1157.jpg

And yet, at 16.7* my Bizmarkia seems untouched?

DSCF1161.jpg

Believe it. Your bismarkia is touched -- it just won't show it until later today or somewhat later. My bismarkias, and I have eight of them, were burned badly last winter when my low was 23.5F near the house. Out where my bizzys were it may have been a degree or two colder. But in any event, the damage manifests itself with time. What's important here, IMO, is whether your bizzies will survive.

Mad about palms

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I too am seeing sub-zone temps. My area is almost always a solid zone 10a. We get a freeze about once every 2 years and the lowest I usually see is 31F. This year I've seen as low as 27, which would put me at 9b. I've seen 5 freezes, and will probably see one more, so that's 12 years worth in a week! Some 9b-10a zones east of me have seen zone 9a temps!

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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23 degrees at 7:00 am Dade City. Anyone know what time the low was becasue when I looked at around 4-5, mine said 25 (unless I dreamed that).

Zone 9A

Dade City, FL. 

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Accuweather.com is showing tampa right now at 8:32am as 19f - is that possible?? that's colder than it is here right now at 24f.

Bobby

Long Island, New York  Zone 7a (where most of the southern Floridians are originally from)

AVERAGE TEMPS

Summer Highs  : 85-90f/day,  68-75f / night

Winter Lows     : 38-45f/day,   25-35f / night

Extreme Low    : 10-20f/day,    0-10f / night   but VERY RARE

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Hit my low around 7:30am of 34.2F. No frost and no ice anywhere again, even the top of my car had no frost, only dew. Very slight breeze. So breathing another sigh of releif. My betelnut looks a bit ragged with some spotting and discoloration, but can't see anything else on any of the other palms, at this point. But still very concerned because of the sheer length of this cold snap (10 days) and by how low the highs were on so many days. Time will tell. Supposed to be back up to 80F by Saturday. Can't happen quick enough for me.

Royal Palm Beach, FL.

USDA Zone 10A/10B Subtropical

26.7 degrees N. latitude

10 miles West of West Palm Beach and the ocean

Avg. yearly rainfall 58 inches

:cool:

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Believe it. Your bismarkia is touched -- it just won't show it until later today or somewhat later. My bismarkias, and I have eight of them, were burned badly last winter when my low was 23.5F near the house. Out where my bizzys were it may have been a degree or two colder. But in any event, the damage manifests itself with time. What's important here, IMO, is whether your bizzies will survive.
I know what you're saying, Walt. The reason I said "seems" was because I've heard people say exactly what you're saying, that they didn't see the damage right off... I'm still going to keep my fingers crossed, but I know there's at least some minor damage at these temps. I debated on covering it, but knew that in a few years, if it survived, it would be too big to cover anyway, so I decide to let it fend for itself. I'll keep you updated...

Zone 9 Central Florida

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Accuweather.com is showing tampa right now at 8:32am as 19f - is that possible?? that's colder than it is here right now at 24f.
I was 16* and I'm only 30 or 40 minutes away from Tampa.

Zone 9 Central Florida

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JayW those are some low temps. You left that Bizmarkia uncovered.........it will be interesting to see if it survives. They might take a few days to show damage so prepare yourself for the worst but hope for the best. You have alot of property there to work with so don't give up after we get through this freakish weather.

Well as predicted I hit my lowest temps of the cold event....we went down to 24 degrees just about an hour ago. What's weird is that my dog's water dish didn't freeze which tells me 2 things. The temperatures didn't stay low enough, long enough, and/or no wind held the warmth of the house to the surrounding area better

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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