Winter in the South / Summer in the North

[Daryl]

Well, winter has been here for one week officially (In Oz we go by the calendar month, so winter is June-July-August). We got our first single digit night last night at home, down to 9C. That's about as cold as I'd like it to get! Unfortunately we still have a l o n g way to go. Days are picture perfect with cloudless skies and no breeze...millpond conditions, with temps in the low 20s C. No palm yellowing yet, but it always starts to show once minimums go below 10C (50F).

Daryl

[ariscott]

It starts to warm up... 15.9 deg this morning.... Much better . I don't mind it being around 15 deg... just not lower!!

Regards, Ari

[Walter John]

It starts to warm up... 15.9 deg this morning.... Much better . I don't mind it being around 15 deg... just not lower!!

Regards, Ari

Wow Ari, you must have had your overcoat and ugg boots out.

There's only one thing I get anxious for at this time of year, and that's for the shortest day to hurry along and get back into longer sunny days.

[tropicbreeze]

Our weather has been getting a bit erratic. Last night (Noonamah AWS readings) the temp dropped to 14.8C (58.6F) by 10:30 pm. Midnight it was back up to 19.6C (67.2F), reaching 19.9C (67.8F) by 1:30 am. Then it dropped back to 16.6C (61.9F) by 5:30 am. Relative humidity also went up and down between 81% and 54% during that time. But generally the temp is creeping up from the lows of the past week. Yesterday maximum got up to 30.0C (86.0F), only a couple of degrees below normal. Humidity bottomed out at 25%.

The wind is swinging a bit more to the east which should take the edge off the cold. I noticed Townsville bottomed out at 12.3C this morning. So the cold air stream is pushing out over that way now and getting a chance to warm a bit as it swings back towards us. Prior to that it was tending to come straight up from the south or south south east. Another factor was the wind totally dying through the night. Last night there was some wind, that keeps the temp up a bit. Dead calm at night drops the temp.

[BS Man about Palms]

Does it make you feel any better to know its still not warm in coastal southern California yet?

[Jonathan]

We had three frosts in a row on May 22, 23 & 24.

Recorded temps at my place were 0C, 0.5C and 0.5C respectively....so quit your moaning you pampered northerners!

Thats as cold as it ever gets here - and much colder than I ever want it to get!

No frost under canopy though and mostly fairly light elsewhere.

Overnight temperatures have since popped back up to around our average winter mins of about 5-7C.

Only damage was to some young Ravenea rivularis's which were exposed to all three frosts and look ugly, but will be fine.

Parajubaeas, L. australis and decora's out in the open paddock laughed at the frost. Nikaus and LHI palms in frost free areas all very happy, so the low temperature itself is not a problem for those species.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tyrone]

I'm down in drizzly Albany at the moment. Sat had a max of 15C with rain, yesterday was sunny and 19C, and today is drizzly and 15C. It gets down in the 8-12C zone, not unlike Perth down here, but it barely warms up in the day. Perth on the other hand has had no rain, sunny days around 21-22C with a couple of nights not far off 14C.

Here's the Perth forecast. Wed night could be really cold depending on where you are in the suburbs.

Forecast for Monday

Cloudy periods. The chance of a shower from late afternoon until the early

evening. Light winds ahead of a S'ly change in the afternoon, fresh on the

coast.

Precis: Cloudy periods.

City: Max 21

Mandurah: Max 20

UV Alert: Nil , UV Index predicted to reach 2 [Low]

Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: NOT RATED

Hills: NOT RATED

Forecast for Tuesday

A sunny day. Moderate to fresh E/SE winds, easing in the afternoon.

Precis: Sunny.

City: Min 6 Max 19

Mandurah: Min 9 Max 17

Wednesday Sunny. Min 4 Max 19

Thursday Sunny. Min 6 Max 20

Friday Partly cloudy. Min 6 Max 21

Saturday Sunny. Min 7 Max 23

Sunday Showers developing. Min 9 Max 23

Best regards

Tyrone

[happ]

Does it make you feel any better to know its still not warm in coastal southern California yet?

What have been your temps, Bill? Even with a strong high pressure system over the Southwest the coastal temps have been suppressed by the marine layer. It was predicted that we would observe some pretty toasty temps this weekend but the highest I recorded was 86F\ 30C today & 84F\ 28.8 yesterday. I have yet to record a maximum of 90F this year which is very unusual. Normally our first 90F+ day occurs in late March or April. I don't see a change in the pattern until next weekend.

[Walter John]

Minus 1 centigrade in two Queensland towns this morning, making Hobart look like Cairns, well...not quite. The usual suspects, Stanthorpe and Oakey.

[Jonathan]

Sure can get cold in inland Qld Wal - the difference being that at least the temps jump back up during the day!

Heres what we have to look forward to over the next few days - below average nights, days about average:

Forecast for Tuesday :

Fine with increasing cloud and freshening northwest winds.

Precis Fine. Min 04 Max 14

Wednesday Rain easing. Mountain snow. Min 06 Max 10

Thursday Shower or two. Min 04 Max 12

Friday A few showers. Min 06 Max 12

Saturday Mainly fine. Min 04 Max 11

Sunday Fine. Min 03 Max 12

Monday Fine. Min 05 Max 14

Cheers,

Freezing.

[BS Man about Palms]

Does it make you feel any better to know its still not warm in coastal southern California yet?

What have been your temps, Bill? Even with a strong high pressure system over the Southwest the coastal temps have been suppressed by the marine layer. It was predicted that we would observe some pretty toasty temps this weekend but the highest I recorded was 86F\ 30C today & 84F\ 28.8 yesterday. I have yet to record a maximum of 90F this year which is very unusual. Normally our first 90F+ day occurs in late March or April. I don't see a change in the pattern until next weekend.

This weekend I think I briefly saw about 72 for an hour or so.

I did see some 80F temps in March or April..

[Jonathan]

And one more frost makes 4!

Temp got down to around 1.5C.

Warming up now and sunny.

[Tyrone]

Jonathan, that's cold down your way.

Yesterday I said Albany was 15C. Well, that was inside with the heater going. It barely touched 13C, and was blowy and wet. Absolutely freezing weather. I've not felt that cold in years. It's the sort of cold that goes right through you. We had the heater going flatout in the car as we left Albany but slowly we turned it down as we approached Perth. At home it was positively balmy and dry as a chip. There is such a massive difference just 4 hours south. Jonathan I take my hat off to you growing such great stuff in a similar environment, although Albany never gets frost, it just fails to feel warm in winter.

It's blue sky and a sunny 19C today. The overnight low was around 11C so not too bad for June. Still no real rain until about Sunday. I don't know if June is going to be the wet month they've been saying it would be. June is our wettest month, so if it's dry......... However the coconut will like it drier than normal so I'm smiling about that.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Well, winter has been here for one week officially (In Oz we go by the calendar month, so winter is June-July-August). We got our first single digit night last night at home, down to 9C. That's about as cold as I'd like it to get! Unfortunately we still have a l o n g way to go. Days are picture perfect with cloudless skies and no breeze...millpond conditions, with temps in the low 20s C. No palm yellowing yet, but it always starts to show once minimums go below 10C (50F).

Daryl

I don't have any yellowing yet Daryl, but you grow things a bit more tropical than I do. All my stuff is very hardy in SE QLD. Don't worry. Wait 6 weeks and you'll be having 28C days again and nights around 18C.

Best regards

Tyrone

[happ]

Jonathan, that's cold down your way.

Yesterday I said Albany was 15C. Well, that was inside with the heater going. It barely touched 13C, and was blowy and wet. Absolutely freezing weather. I've not felt that cold in years. It's the sort of cold that goes right through you. We had the heater going flatout in the car as we left Albany but slowly we turned it down as we approached Perth. At home it was positively balmy and dry as a chip. There is such a massive difference just 4 hours south. Jonathan I take my hat off to you growing such great stuff in a similar environment, although Albany never gets frost, it just fails to feel warm in winter.

It's blue sky and a sunny 19C today. The overnight low was around 11C so not too bad for June. Still no real rain until about Sunday. I don't know if June is going to be the wet month they've been saying it would be. June is our wettest month, so if it's dry......... However the coconut will like it drier than normal so I'm smiling about that.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone, I noticed that Albany is in Western Australia around 35S latitude. Is it considered a "Mediterranean" climate? Latitude 35N is San Luis Obispo\ Central California and it most certainly is Mediterranean. Since Albany is south-facing does it get more Antarctic influence? One thing about our similar climates is that it rains during the coldest part of the year! I am grateful for whatever rainfall we get each winter but the yellowing is quite pronounced. There still are plenty of yellow fronds on my palms and trees like veitchia arecina still look like crap. I don't think I will plant any more veitchia. How do they do in Perth?

Today was delightful and close to normal for early June: 81F\ 27.2C

[Tassie_Troy1971]

And one more frost makes 4!

Temp got down to around 1.5C.

Warming up now and sunny.

No frost here this morning Jonathan and i got down to a low of 2.5c at 6.30 am . The banana is still looking great

[Tyrone]

Jonathan, that's cold down your way.

Yesterday I said Albany was 15C. Well, that was inside with the heater going. It barely touched 13C, and was blowy and wet. Absolutely freezing weather. I've not felt that cold in years. It's the sort of cold that goes right through you. We had the heater going flatout in the car as we left Albany but slowly we turned it down as we approached Perth. At home it was positively balmy and dry as a chip. There is such a massive difference just 4 hours south. Jonathan I take my hat off to you growing such great stuff in a similar environment, although Albany never gets frost, it just fails to feel warm in winter.

It's blue sky and a sunny 19C today. The overnight low was around 11C so not too bad for June. Still no real rain until about Sunday. I don't know if June is going to be the wet month they've been saying it would be. June is our wettest month, so if it's dry......... However the coconut will like it drier than normal so I'm smiling about that.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone, I noticed that Albany is in Western Australia around 35S latitude. Is it considered a "Mediterranean" climate? Latitude 35N is San Luis Obispo\ Central California and it most certainly is Mediterranean. Since Albany is south-facing does it get more Antarctic influence? One thing about our similar climates is that it rains during the coldest part of the year! I am grateful for whatever rainfall we get each winter but the yellowing is quite pronounced. There still are plenty of yellow fronds on my palms and trees like veitchia arecina still look like crap. I don't think I will plant any more veitchia. How do they do in Perth?

Today was delightful and close to normal for early June: 81F\ 27.2C

Happ, Albany is considered Mediterranean in that it has wet winters and drier summers, but I think it's also tending to more of an oceanic climate like New Zealand. Nikau's do wonderfully down there. Because it faces south and sort of stuck out a bit into the ocean, most breezes are sea breezes and are therefore moist and cool. Northerlies are the only ones which are dry. Even though it has dry summers, it still averages 23mm of in January (nearly an inch) and rains one day in every 4 in summer. Humidity is usually high in Albany so it never really suffers the hot dry air problems we have on the west coast until they get a northerly. Here in Perth you only get humid breezes from the west. In summer you can grow many things in full sun down there that will burn to a crisp up here. If Australia was another 1000km north it would be a great place for tropicals. But your cooler mountain varieties do well down in Albany, due to the general lack of extreme heat and cold.

In regards to Veitchia's, I am growing a few V joannis really well. They can yellow a bit in winter, but they quickly recover. They harden up once they get some trunk. Not many people grow them here.

It's a sunny breezy day today with cool southerlies. It's about 17C now on the way to a top of 19C. Everything is so dry. I had to go and hand water my pots this arvo. My Golden Torch Heliconia's are all showing drought stress, so I gave them a water. No rain until Sunday. This is a dry start to winter.

Best regards

Tyrone

[peachy]

Quite warm for here last night, went down to 7c. Sunday night dropped to 3. A couple of 2s and 1s but we have stayed above freezing so far. (just) Frost doesnt seem to form here before minus 3, and only touches delicate stuff, but once it hits minus 5, then its good night babies. Jonathan, at my old place between Oakey and Dalby but a bit further north, we had frosts every night for a couple of months every winter, burst pipes and one year icicles hanging from the tanks and guttering. Still I had palms !! Butias, Queens, Phoenix of several kinds, including roebellinii although they had a bit of shelter, and Chamaerops. So I am guessing your babies should be fine with light frosts like you are getting. Troy, on Gardening Australia, that Tito Carnivale, the gardener at Hobart Botanic Gardens, has kept a banana alive. It survived last winter and is still okay this year. Mine survived 3 black frosts and I only managed to get rid of them by having them cut to the ground and the bottoms poisoned. So far they havent come back. I had them in pots at the old place, out of the frost but still down to minus 8 without losing any. Lack of rain and the freezing wind is the biggest hazard here at my place.

Peachy

[Tyrone]

Peachy, you get some really cold temps out there. I don't envy you at all in winter. At least it's a dry cool. I think you are colder than me in winter. So far for the first week of winter we are warmer than average with mins at 9.6C and maxes around 20.5C so far for June. That can quickly change though when it rains. Today the breeze has just cold colder and colder despite the sun. It never made it to 19C. We maxed around 17.5C which is roughly average for this time of year. The cold air pool finally made it up here.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tassie_Troy1971]

Peachy, you get some really cold temps out there. I don't envy you at all in winter. At least it's a dry cool. I think you are colder than me in winter. So far for the first week of winter we are warmer than average with mins at 9.6C and maxes around 20.5C so far for June. That can quickly change though when it rains. Today the breeze has just cold colder and colder despite the sun. It never made it to 19C. We maxed around 17.5C which is roughly average for this time of year. The cold air pool finally made it up here.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone

I envy your winter temperatures tomorrow's fore cast is 4 - 10 c a real cold winters day .

[ariscott]

Tyrone, if you think Albany was cold... you can sympathise with me... It is up in the 15 min again here in Darwin. Thank goodness....

Regards, Ari

[Mike in Nelson]

Had 19c here yesterday but back down to 12c today. Cold night on the way.

Peachy, you don't get -5 do you?

[tropicbreeze]

All this talk of cold temperatures makes me shiver! Our temps are slowly creeping up again, for a while at least.

Noonamah AWS recorded 16.3C (61.3F) at midnight, then back up to 18.8C (65.8F) over the next couple of hours, and then back down to 16.4C (61.5F) at 6:00 am. This seems to have become a regular pattern now. And the maximum temp got to 31.7C (89.1F), pretty close to average/normal for winter. Humidity is also edging up, ranging from a high of 87%, down to a low of 36%.

Interestingly enough, the minimum temp this morning at Gove was 23.9C (75.0F) with humidity peaking at 93%. Now why can't that pool of air move just a little bit further west across to us?

[peachy]

Zig, Gove's minimum is about our maximum. 23 again today and the same tomorrow. Mike it only happens ever few years but it does happen. Last winter and so far this winter, we havent gone below zero, which makes a nice change. minus 3 is usually as low as it gets, 0 to minus 2 being sort of normal.

Peachy

[Xenon]

Been raining the past week, temperature is now in the high 70s..lots of humidity.

Jonathan

[Tyrone]

Peachy, you get some really cold temps out there. I don't envy you at all in winter. At least it's a dry cool. I think you are colder than me in winter. So far for the first week of winter we are warmer than average with mins at 9.6C and maxes around 20.5C so far for June. That can quickly change though when it rains. Today the breeze has just cold colder and colder despite the sun. It never made it to 19C. We maxed around 17.5C which is roughly average for this time of year. The cold air pool finally made it up here.

Best regards

Tyrone

Tyrone

I envy your winter temperatures tomorrow's fore cast is 4 - 10 c a real cold winters day .

That is seriously cold Troy.

Lastnight was cold and blowy. We don't normally get the two together here. It went down to 6C with some gusty easterly winds. Yuck. Bickley up in the hills went down to 4.7C with 33kph winds and a real feel of minus 1.7C. No wonder they grow all European stuff up there and apple orchards.

We're going for a sunny 18C before it warms up to 23C on Sat and Sun, which I'm going to soak up and enjoy. We may not see that for a while after that.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Miccles]

Nasty weather here too.

From the B.O.M website: Warning to Sheep Graziers

for the Western, North Central, Central, West and South Gippsland, East

Gippsland and Northeast forecast districts.

Issued at 10:30 am EST on Wednesday 9 June 2010.

"Sheep Graziers in the North Central, Central, West and South Gippsland, East

Gippsland and Northeast forecast districts and parts of the Western forecast

district are warned of continued cold, showery and windy conditions today and

tonight with snow showers down to 1000 metres. There is a risk of losses of

lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions."

Going for a MAX of just 12C today with squally showers and hail expected. That's it... outa here.......back to Indonesia & Philippines from next week.

Regards

Michael

[PalmsZA]

A balmy 17c min this morning under cloud. Max is supposed to be 21c today and I am hoping for some rain....Yesterday got to a bright sunny 30c. Pretty much normal conditions here.

[Mike in Nelson]

Down to 4c here this morning and the coldest yet.

[Jonathan]

Down to 4c here this morning and the coldest yet.

You must have a nice warm microclimate Mike.

I was looking at the long term averages for the Nelson Aerodrome and the temperature for each month was colder than Hobart....the nights in winter were a couple of degrees colder.

I'm assuming that the aerodrome (as you would expect) is out in the open and flat and so therefore more exposed?

I guess if I lived on the hill behind my house frost wouldn't be much of an issue!

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Jonathan]

Quite warm for here last night, went down to 7c. Sunday night dropped to 3. A couple of 2s and 1s but we have stayed above freezing so far. (just) Frost doesnt seem to form here before minus 3, and only touches delicate stuff, but once it hits minus 5, then its good night babies. Jonathan, at my old place between Oakey and Dalby but a bit further north, we had frosts every night for a couple of months every winter, burst pipes and one year icicles hanging from the tanks and guttering. Still I had palms !! Butias, Queens, Phoenix of several kinds, including roebellinii although they had a bit of shelter, and Chamaerops. So I am guessing your babies should be fine with light frosts like you are getting. Troy, on Gardening Australia, that Tito Carnivale, the gardener at Hobart Botanic Gardens, has kept a banana alive. It survived last winter and is still okay this year. Mine survived 3 black frosts and I only managed to get rid of them by having them cut to the ground and the bottoms poisoned. So far they havent come back. I had them in pots at the old place, out of the frost but still down to minus 8 without losing any. Lack of rain and the freezing wind is the biggest hazard here at my place.

Peachy

Thats interesting Peachy about the frost not forming until minus 3.

You must have a lower dewpoint in winter than we do, because here it can occur at 1.5C.

Cheers,

Jonathan

[Tyrone]

Nasty weather here too.

From the B.O.M website: Warning to Sheep Graziers

for the Western, North Central, Central, West and South Gippsland, East

Gippsland and Northeast forecast districts.

Issued at 10:30 am EST on Wednesday 9 June 2010.

"Sheep Graziers in the North Central, Central, West and South Gippsland, East

Gippsland and Northeast forecast districts and parts of the Western forecast

district are warned of continued cold, showery and windy conditions today and

tonight with snow showers down to 1000 metres. There is a risk of losses of

lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions."

Going for a MAX of just 12C today with squally showers and hail expected. That's it... outa here.......back to Indonesia & Philippines from next week.

Regards

Michael

Yuck. Enjoy Indo and the Phillipines Michael. That sounds like the weather we had in Albany on Mon. Still your Chatham Island Nikaus will love it.

Best regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

Yeah... Michael... I know where I would rather be... BTW, don't forget to go to seed banks at Bogor!!!! If you need a contact person, let me know... I will find out his number. I know if you bring some exotics stuff, Tyrone wouldn't say no.. ... well, that case... neither would I

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

Ari, I now have 9 Areca catechu var alba's up. I'm very happy.

Best regards

Tyrone

[ariscott]

Amazing, Tyrone... you are the germinator!! It means you get 100% germination!! I dig mine up and they are actually sprouting. I just hope I don't kill them by digging them up. So, I think I have to put them in the shadehouse where it is nice and warm!!!

Regards, Ari

[Tyrone]

There's one more to come up to be 100% but I'm hopeful. Must've been fresh seeds.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Exotic Life]

Somehow i can enjoy my weather at the moment for a few days to, humidity is swining between the 93 and 96% and got sunshine and showers to or like todat mostly cloudy but sometimes some drizzle rain but temperatures stay above the 20C, so it's almost feeling like the tropics. Got 24.6C yesterday, not cooler then 15.7C last night and got 20.5C today and still 17C at the moment.

Tomorrow and also friday can be an interesting days with some really active thunderstorms and specially tomorrow the changes are the highest for that but also temperatures going to rise between the 23-25C for the next 2 days, with the same humidity and weather outlook.

After working in the garden today I was kinda wet from the drizzle rain but otherwise if I had wearing a raincoat I would be also wet from my one You can almost hear and see plants growing at the moment... Otherwise after a cooler forecasted weekend around the 20C it looks like we going back to a more stable type of weather and more sunnier with temperatures between the 20-25 for the days and above the 10 for the nights how the forecast is looking now.

Robbin

[Tyrone]

Robbin. It sounds like you have better weather now than Southern California.

It was cold lastnight. Perth dropped to 3.3C but the airport where the wind didn't stop only dropped to 7C approx. It's still dark outside and so I can't see if there is a breeze out there. If there's none I'd say I'm around 3.5C at the moment.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Miccles]

Yeah... Michael... I know where I would rather be... BTW, don't forget to go to seed banks at Bogor!!!! If you need a contact person, let me know... I will find out his number. I know if you bring some exotics stuff, Tyrone wouldn't say no.. ... well, that case... neither would I

Regards, Ari

You guys really want to see me on an episode of "Border security" don't you ????

Regards

Michael.

[RyManUtah]

we got down the the upper teens last winter, which the date palms did NOT like... and two nights it even SNOWED! *rare for these parts*... now we are back in the lower 100's