December Thread

[happ]

Some meteorologists faithfully follow a particular computer model.  The science is the interpretation of many atmospheric factors.  

I'm interested in reading more about inland "cold pockets" in Florida.  The proximity to warm ocean water significantly influences coastal cities like St Petersburg/Miami.

The current freeze in Texas started in California last week and will briefly/lightly affect Florida.

[Exotic Life]

Tempeturtes are going to rise a lot above normal average...

Tomorrow and also thursday can be cold day's with some lite frost in the nights, but the the tempeture's going to rise. At sunday the expect 15C/59F and 10C/50F in the nights

Also monday the night will be warmer ... monday night the expect 12C/54F ...

Normal average for day 5C/41F and for the nights 1C/34F ... So let's go global warming ...

Robbin

[Neofolis]

Similar here Robbin.  After a longish cold spell, things will be well above average by the weekend, although not quite as warm as there.

[Exotic Life]

I still have one frost night for a couple hours (-0,3) Do you have aleready some frost nights

Robbin

[SunnyFl]

(happ @ Dec. 26 2006,01:37)

QUOTE

Some meteorologists faithfully follow a particular computer model.  The science is the interpretation of many atmospheric factors.  

I'm interested in reading more about inland "cold pockets" in Florida.  The proximity to warm ocean water significantly influences coastal cities like St Petersburg/Miami.

The current freeze in Texas started in California last week and will briefly/lightly affect Florida.

Is this in the near-term forecast?  I'm hoping that we'll avoid the chillier temps - so far, it looks encouraging.  The low for our neighborhood is to be 47 tonight, 50 tomorrow night, then rebounding into the 60's for overnight lows as the week progresses.  But it looks as if the panhandle won't fare as well.

You're certainly right about the effect of our proximity to the gulf.  St. Pete, although far up the peninsula from Miami, is surrounded by water - giving us warmer winter temps than areas farther south.

[Neofolis]

(Exotic Life @ Dec. 26 2006,21:39)

QUOTE

I still have one frost night for a couple hours (-0,3) Do you have aleready some frost nights

Robbin

We had a couple of frosts about a week ago.  Although it didn't go below -3°C/27°F, one night it stayed that low for about 10 hours, so the frost was very thick, by our standards.  It has been slightly warmer since then with no nights going below 2°C/36°F.  Tonight is only forecast to go down to 7°C/45°F and we are not expecting much lower than that for the next week.

[ZoneTenNut]

The predicted cooldown arrived last night, but not as cool here as widely forecast. 50.9F at my house, at 7:15AM Looks like clear day and mid to upper 60's for a high. Warmup should start late today, when winds shift from NE off the ocean. Back up to 76F tomorrow and then around 80F for rest of week.

[spockvr6]

Heres the 7AM temp map of the state courtesy of of the Melbourne NWS office.

[spockvr6]

Still 46F here at my house in Tarpon Springs at 8:20AM, with a low of 44.1F reached at 6:44AM.

Other area stations----

Tarpon Springs - Fred Howard Park - USF Marine Station - 45.1F

Tarpon Springs - Sponge Docks - USF Marine Station - 45.5F

St. Petersburg - Campbell Park - USF Marine Station - 47.5F

Albert Whitted AP - St. Petersburg - 48F

Clearwater AP - 48F

Tampa AP - 45F

Vandenberg AP - 41F

MacDill AFB - 42F

Other stations in the inland sections of the general  Tampa metro area---

Plant City - 35F

Dade City - 35.5F

Brooksville-  35F

Brandon - 37.6F

Valrico - 35.6F

Ruskin (coastal) - 44.6F

Ruskin -  (interior) - 40.1F

Sarasota AP - 46F

[spockvr6]

Some South FL readings (latest readings...but some havent quite bottomed yet)--

West Palm Beach AP - 48F

Loxahatchee - 45.5F

Fort Lauderdale AP - 55F

Miami AP - 55F

Homestead AFB - 55F

Key West - 64F

Ft Myers AP - 50F

Naples - 54F

[BobbyinNY]

there has to be something going on with our weather... We've been so far above normal with temps in the 60's during the day, and the low 40's at night that it's unheard of.... Look at this map.. For us on Long Island to be warmer in the morning than North & Central FL during the winter is completely unheard of.. This happens in the summer frequently, but never in the winter...

[NBTX11]

(happ @ Dec. 26 2006,01:37)

QUOTE

The current freeze in Texas started in California last week and will briefly/lightly affect Florida.

Deep South Texas has not had anything resembling a freeze yet, barely getting below 40F for the coldest.  My area has had 1 or 2 brief freezes in early Dec (30F), and none since, altough we were in the 30s last few nights (light frost on car windshield this morning).  North and Central TX has probably had 5 or 6 deep freezes at least though.  TX panhandle has seen very cold temps and snow.  Lots of variation when your going 800+ miles north to south.

[ZoneTenNut]

(spockvr6 @ Dec. 27 2006,08:40)

QUOTE

Some South FL readings (latest readings...but some havent quite bottomed yet)--

West Palm Beach AP - 48F

Loxahatchee - 45.5F

Fort Lauderdale AP - 55F

Miami AP - 55F

Homestead AFB - 55F

Key West - 64F

Ft Myers AP - 50F

Naples - 54F

Larry,

I bottomed out at 49.1F at my house. Was surprised to see the 48F in WPB.  Loxahatchee is very close to me, but could easily be this much cooler depending on how far west the reporting station was. This was mostly a mild cool down for us.  

It appears you guys weren't much cooler than us down here. So far very mild December all the way around.

[NBTX11]

Bobby, Long Island might not get very cold at night, but you guys don't get that warm during the day either.  Here's our daytime temp comparison for tomorrow.  Haha... :laugh:

[spockvr6]

(BobbyinNY @ Dec. 27 2006,09:05)

QUOTE

there has to be something going on with our weather... We've been so far above normal with temps in the 60's during the day, and the low 40's at night that it's unheard of.... Look at this map.. For us on Long Island to be warmer in the morning than North & Central FL during the winter is completely unheard of.. This happens in the summer frequently, but never in the winter...

Odd things happen all the time....one area is below normal the other above...POOF...something looks strange

[spockvr6]

(ZoneTenNut @ Dec. 27 2006,12:38)

QUOTE

(spockvr6 @ Dec. 27 2006,08:40)

QUOTE

Some South FL readings (latest readings...but some havent quite bottomed yet)--

West Palm Beach AP - 48F

Loxahatchee - 45.5F

Fort Lauderdale AP - 55F

Miami AP - 55F

Homestead AFB - 55F

Key West - 64F

Ft Myers AP - 50F

Naples - 54F

Larry,

I bottomed out at 49.1F at my house. Was surprised to see the 48F in WPB.  Loxahatchee is very close to me, but could easily be this much cooler depending on how far west the reporting station was. This was mostly a mild cool down for us.  

It appears you guys weren't much cooler than us down here. So far very mild December all the way around.

Zone 10-

The big difference between here and there is that our "warm" readings are influenced more by the water.  If one compares a location in inland Tampa that would be the equivalent to a place like Loxahatchee (i.e. less water influence), the differences get far greater.

However, in the long run, being father south never hurts!  Id take an extra 100 or so miles of latitude if I could get it

And yes.....very mild December (and winter really) thus far.  I am not in a warm spot of Pinellas by any means and the lowest this year so far is 42.6F.  Last year was also warm with regard to absolute lows (only dropped below 40F twice in the 2005/2006 winter), but by now I had already seen upper 30's (37.6F on 12/23/05).   If there are no more cold fronts between now and Jan 1, tht will make only 1 instance of less than 40F (34.3F on 2/14/06) in the 2006 calendar year in my yard!  Up this far north, I dont think I can expect better than that.

In any case.....either we will skate through this winter, or the other shoe will fall and well get hammered ???

[BobbyinNY]

Bobby, Long Island might not get very cold at night, but you guys don't get that warm during the day either.  Here's our daytime temp comparison for tomorrow.  Haha..

That's very true, Jim, but going by what we've had so far for lows, I'm sure I could've not protected alot of stuff and it would've been fine.

[ruskinPalms]

39.7 here at my house this morning for a low. I looked for frost in low lying areas and roof tops but saw none. By the way Larry, that reading you got from interior ruskin was from my personal weather station. But, it got lower than that. I am having problems getting the base unit to communicate with the computer from more than 10 minutes or so...Not sure what the problem is. Anyway, the wind was dead still with clear skies last night. A radiational freeze could catch me off gaurd this time of year  

[Exotic Life]

(Neofolis @ Dec. 27 2006,06:25)

QUOTE

(Exotic Life @ Dec. 26 2006,21:39)

QUOTE

I still have one frost night for a couple hours (-0,3) Do you have aleready some frost nights

Robbin

We had a couple of frosts about a week ago.  Although it didn't go below -3°C/27°F, one night it stayed that low for about 10 hours, so the frost was very thick, by our standards.  It has been slightly warmer since then with no nights going below 2°C/36°F.  Tonight is only forecast to go down to 7°C/45°F and we are not expecting much lower than that for the next week.

Hi,

Slik! -3C, that's a tempeture that i don't like ! Today was a cold day !! The highest tempeture today was 2,5 C/ 36.5F but it's warming up now, so i think we don't have got a frosty night ... it's now right at this moment 3C/37.4F

Let's go the the mild tempeture's of 10C/50F and more ! But we do get rain then

Robbin

[spockvr6]

(ruskinPalms @ Dec. 27 2006,17:13)

QUOTE

By the way Larry, that reading you got from interior ruskin was from my personal weather station.

Awesome Bill!  I didnt recall seeing that station in some past scans through Weatherunderground and Im glad to hear its yours!

I guess Santa brought you a weather station?

[spockvr6]

(ruskinPalms @ Dec. 27 2006,17:13)

QUOTE

Anyway, the wind was dead still with clear skies last night. A radiational freeze could catch me off gaurd this time of year  

Yes....similarly here.  From about 2AM to 7AM, the winds were quite light.  And, to top it off, the winds were NE (which is lousy for both of us).

If I didnt see that NWS is forecasting the dewpoints to start rising tonight, Id be thinking we were in for a very nasty night tonight ???

[ruskinPalms]

It has cooled off very fast tonight.... I think I have the weather station working correctly now. Here is a link if you are interested in seeing a temperature fall like a rock:

http://www.wunderground.com/weather....LRUSKI1

[spockvr6]

I am less than 2F behind you Bill....dropping like a rock here as well with this dead calm air.   What disturbs me is the dewpoint drop.  It was rising (up until 8PM), but has now started falling along with the temp.

[Neofolis]

(Exotic Life @ Dec. 27 2006,22:16)

QUOTE

Hi,

Slik! -3C, that's a tempeture that i don't like ! Today was a cold day !! The highest tempeture today was 2,5 C/ 36.5F but it's warming up now, so i think we don't have got a frosty night ... it's now right at this moment 3C/37.4F

Let's go the the mild tempeture's of 10C/50F and more ! But we do get rain then

Robbin

We have been quite a bit milder than you today 9°C/48°F for most of the day, but similarly the temperature went up a degree to 10°C/50°F at around 21:00 and it has stayed there since.  I assume this was due to a change in wind direction to south-westerly, which is generally favourable here.  London had a cold day like yourself, but the temperature there has gone from 3°C/37°F at 21:00 to 8°C/46°F at 02:00.

[happ]

Experiencing very strong winds in SoCal.  A weak thunderstorm dropped 0.30 overnight [total since July : 1.23   ].  "Damaging" wind will continue for several more days along with plummeting humidity & chilly temps.

LA : 66/53

[ZoneTenNut]

54.2F at 7:00am this morning, so the warmup from yesterdays brief cold spell is on. 7 day forecast here, looks like upper 70's to lower 80's for highs. Very mild winter indeed. At least so far!

How did everyone fare last night, on the FL. west coast?

[spockvr6]

(ZoneTenNut @ Dec. 28 2006,07:02)

QUOTE

How did everyone fare last night, on the FL. west coast?

Zone10-

50.2F here at 730AM, with the actual low reached at 1:00AM of 45.3F.

The warm spot over here looks to be the usual suspect (Albert Whitted AP in St. Pete) with an overnight low temp of 55F.

[spockvr6]

Heres the 730AM graphic from the NWS office in Melbourne.  If you look closely, you can see the warm "island" in central/eastern Palm Beach county which appears to indicate the Zone10Nut fired up alot of hair driers this AM  

[ZoneTenNut]

Larry,

Not that cold over there either. Looks like we all fared O.K. in this one as well.

Tried unsucessfully to attach a current ADAS temperature map, as it shows the warm pocket I have spoken of previously, on the SE side of Lake Okeechobee. This very often can give interior Palm Beach County warmer temps than even the coastal areas. If you get a chance this morning, take a look at this link.

http://www.srh.noaa.gov/mlb/ldis/4km/ADAS_temperature.htm

[ZoneTenNut]

Larry,

Thats the map I was trying to post. See that big glob of 60's on SE side of Lake O.? That very often saves us in the western suburbs of WPB.

[spockvr6]

(ZoneTenNut @ Dec. 28 2006,07:58)

QUOTE

Larry,

Thats the map I was trying to post. See that big glob of 60's on SE side of Lake O.? That very often saves us in the western suburbs of WPB.

Thats the "blob" I was giving your hair driers credit for!

Hehehehehhehee

[spockvr6]

There seems to be little doubt that, if one is in the upper south Florida region and isnt near water, the on the south side of Lake Okechobee is the place to be!  That lake is massive and as such seems to have climate effects similar to the ocean.

[ZoneTenNut]

(spockvr6 @ Dec. 28 2006,08:03)

QUOTE

There seems to be little doubt that, if one is in the upper south Florida region and isnt near water, the on the south side of Lake Okechobee is the place to be!  That lake is massive and as such seems to have climate effects similar to the ocean.

Sorry. I'm not quite as adept at posting, so it seems I'm about a post or two behind.

Too funny on the hairdryers. While I can't take credit for this "heat island", as we didn't get low enough for concern, on very cold nights you can clearly see the heat island on these maps, that appear to originate from my general location.  

This effect of being sandwiched in between Lake O. and the ocean, definitely has a climatic influence on the area. However, we can still get the frosts and freezes, depending on  wind direction or other factors.

[happ]

Is "interior Palm Beach" county close to sea level elevation? Perhaps if the cold front arrives on east winds it benefits from the Atlantic ocean?  ???  

central/eastern Palm Beach county which appears to indicate the Zone10Nut fired up alot of hair driers this AM  

:laugh:  :laugh:

[ZoneTenNut]

(happ @ Dec. 28 2006,22:40)

QUOTE

Is "interior Palm Beach" county close to sea level elevation? Perhaps if the cold front arrives on east winds it benefits from the Atlantic ocean?  ???  

central/eastern Palm Beach county which appears to indicate the Zone10Nut fired up alot of hair driers this AM  

:laugh:  :laugh:

Happ,

We're about 18' elevation here in Royal Palm Beach. We do benefit from warming off the Atlantic in a NE, E, or SE wind, but we also sometimes benefit off Lake Okeechobee on a W & NW wind, due to the size of this body of water. It really provides Palm Beach County a unique and large micro climate area.

[Alicehunter2000]

Well here we are about to start January and we only had one night that dipped slightly below freezing. If it stays like this we might have our second year of 10a winter temps. But it is far too early to gloat.......our coldest I'm afraid is yet to come.

[Exotic Life]

Oke, the have officily say 2006 was in the netherlands the warmest year in 300 years !

It looks like 2007 will start also very mild to with daytempeture's above the 10C !! And freezes i don't see them in the next 14 day's ! Let's go to the spring now !

[happ]

Fairly uneventful except for near-constant sunshine.  Obviously good for the garden since the long calm clear nights increase probability of frost.

December is actually the coldest month of winter here since the rain season is often delayed like it is this year again     Rain means warmer nights but can also damage tender growth. The "cold feet syndrome" common to California.  

Chilly temp of 65F @ noon.

Rose parade will start off cold [possibly below 40F] but warm for a very comfortable day of USC/Michigan football  

[spockvr6]

It looks like 2006 will end on a very pleasant note with temps in the middle 70's and dewpoints around 70F as we are under a very nice southern flow.

For the month of December 2006, my station logged an average high/low of 75.5 F / 59.3F.   For the month, the maximum high was 83.3F and the minimum low was 42.6F.  All in all, a very fine month.

[happ]

December 2006

Los Angeles-NE Foothills

Average Max : 71.8  Normal : 70

Average Min : 51.3  Normal : 50

Average Mean : 61.5  Normal : 60

Rainfall :

December 0.58

Rain Year [Jul-Jun} : 1.28

Fairly uneventful month of little rainfall and near-normal temps.

Today

LA 65/45