December 2010 thread

[Trópico]

Spoiled by November warmth, off to a chilly start with lows in the very low 40's. This 80's weather is over, so enjoy the last few remaining hours

[BS Man about Palms]

You're probably getting the backhand of what slapped us!!

[PalmatierMeg]

Predicted lows in mid-40s here Wed, Thurs, Fri. Time for serious thinking about the Cyrtostachys and Socratea.

[Walter John]

Meanwhile in Australia (South East Queensland to be precise), more of the same from N(M)ovember, rain and mild temps.

[trioderob]

Meanwhile in Australia (South East Queensland to be precise), more of the same from N(M)ovember, rain and mild temps.

how is the palm growing out there is OZ ?

[SubTropicRay]

The greenhouse gets packed for the winter tonight. This is what happened last year. A warm November, slightly cooler December and then wham!

[PalmatierMeg]

Radio this morning said Thur a.m. will be 40F. Now I'm really worried.

[Trópico]

Wow Meg, isn't Cape Coral in South Florida? You and I in Orlando share the same lows! 40°F tonight and tomorrow night, with a gradual warmup to 42°F and mid 49°F by Saturday.

[amazondk]

I have been looking at the videos on accuweather this morning. It does look like winter has arrived in North America.

The Cold Settles In

Here on the equator everyday there has been some rain. And, since there are more clouds around the temperatures stay a little bit cooler.

dk

[SubTropicRay]

There's another possibly stronger front towards the middle of next week. Forecasted lows in the mid 40's will surely drop a few degrees as the days approach. I'm starting to think this winter will be as bad as last year.

[SunnyFl]

There's another possibly stronger front towards the middle of next week. Forecasted lows in the mid 40's will surely drop a few degrees as the days approach. I'm starting to think this winter will be as bad as last year.

We have both been suspecting this for quite some time. While NWS was yapping about a warm La Nina winter, our thought was that it would be another cold one.

13 crotons got brought indoors last night. Not much room due to reno project, but I don't want them hurt. We'll try to bring more in tonight. If we don't get a new place soon, we'll be considering a greenhouse.

Patchy frost predicted for some areas tonight. ugh.

[SubTropicRay]

Crotons shouldn't be affected by this weather. I dropped to 42F this morning.

[Trópico]

Thankfully I don't think I hit 40°F this morning. Not even dew on my car top froze. Tonight though, could be another story. Predicted low of 38°F.

[PalmatierMeg]

We hit 44.5 earlier this morning. Now W-Underground says low Fri will be 40F. Sheesh! I pulled in 2 smaller Cyrtostachys and the Socratea. We shoved the large Cyrtostachys into the NW corner of the lanai, hung a tarp and placed a small heater and a shop lamp inside. I checked at 12:30 and 1:30 a.m. and the temp on the thermometer also inside read ~60 both times. But my husband says bring the plant indoors tonight - despite his having back pain. What a guy! But last night he said he wants to buy a cheap place in Belize to spend our winters. We watch too much HGTV.

[Jimbean]

I have been looking at the videos on accuweather this morning. It does look like winter has arrived in North America.

The Cold Settles In

Here on the equator everyday there has been some rain. And, since there are more clouds around the temperatures stay a little bit cooler.

dk

That was the same weather pattern as last year!

[Jimbean]

40F last night, and expected for the next few days.

[cfkingfish]

I wish there was a way to lash back at mother nature temperature wise.

[SunnyFl]

We watch too much HGTV.

OMG too funny - cuz that's what I'm watching right now! My favorite shows are Holmes on Homes (love him!) and Disaster DIY.

Ray, I agree that crotons can take these temps. But last winter we brought them in every time it got lower than the upper 40's and I noticed they didn't lose their color or vigor at all. And yeah, they spent a LOT of days indoors last winter.

I lost my sensitive palms last year, except for the ones in pots which we brought in. Of the palms planted out, the survivors were the lepto, the morrissiis & glaucas (didn't even notice it was cold), only one lutescens and a couple of roebs. Also a riv squeaked through. The carnage was awful - too many to list. Even a couple of bougies died -now that's bad.

Anyone notice that the forecast duration of this stupid cool-down is getting longer? Originally they thought Friday would be warmer - now it looks worse, and they're even talking frost. Should've built the greenhouse...

shoulda-woulda-coulda...

but didn't.

[SunnyFl]

Here's something nasty from NWS:

.SHORT TERM (TONIGHT-SATURDAY)...

..... THE MAIN CONCERNS IN

THIS FORECAST PERIOD ARE FOR LOW TEMPERATURES WHICH WILL BE VERY

COLD THE NEXT FEW NIGHTS AND CONTINUE TO BE AROUND FREEZING IN

MANY SPOTS. THE FIRST CONCERNS ARE TONIGHTS LOWS. GUIDANCE IS

REMAINING COLD AND IS AROUND THE SAME AS LAST NIGHT IN THE NORTH

AND SEVERAL DEGREES COOLER IN THE SOUTH. THIS WILL BE BECAUSE THE

COLDEST AIR HAD NOT YET ARRIVED IN THE SOUTH LAST NIGHT. THE

CONCERNS ARE WIND STAYING UP A LITTLE BIT WITH THE HIGH NOT

CONTINUING TO BUILD IN OVERNIGHT. THIS WIND WILL PROBABLY

ALLEVIATE THE THREAT OF WIDESPREAD FROST IN THE CENTRAL AND

SOUTH...BUT WILL CONTINUE TO CARRY A MENTION OF PATCHY FROST AS

THE MOST PROTECTED INLAND AREAS EVEN IN THE SOUTHERN COUNTIES WILL

DIP TO NEAR FREEZING TONIGHT. WILL EXPAND FREEZE WARNING TO PASCO

COUNTY GIVEN THE COLDER NEW GUIDANCE AND THE PATTERN...BUT WILL

NOT ISSUE A FROST ADVISORY DUE TO CONCERNS OF WIND STAYING UP

OVERNIGHT WHICH DAMPERS THE OVERALL CONFIDENCE IN A WIDESPREAD

FROST SETUP. THEN FRIDAY NIGHT THERE IS A CONCERN BECAUSE THE HIGH

WILL BE NEARLY OVERHEAD WHICH COULD MAKE IT A BETTER NIGHT FOR

FROST GIVEN THAT WINDS WILL BE MORE LIKELY TO BE CALM. WILL

CONTINUE TO GO NEAR OR SLIGHTLY BELOW GUIDANCE FRIDAY NIGHT. HIGH

TEMPERATURES WILL REMAIN WELL BELOW NORMAL WITH A SLOW WARMING

TREND TO NEAR 70 BY SATURDAY.

[Tyrone]

December is appearing to become more like November over here, after a December style November just passed. Cool and mild with even a bit of rain this morning. Not really unpleasant at all.

Forecast for Friday A light shower or two, clearing early in the afternoon. Light to moderate SW'lywinds freshening for a period in the afternoon.Precis: Shower or two, clearing. City: Max 22 Mandurah: Max 22 UV Alert: 7:50 am to 4:20 pm, UV Index predicted to reach 13 [Extreme] Fire Danger: Coastal Plain: HIGH Hills: HIGH Forecast for Saturday Partly cloudy. Light winds, shifting moderate SW'ly during the morning andfreshening in the afternoon.Precis: Partly cloudy. City: Min 11 Max 23Mandurah: Min 12 Max 22Sunday Cloudy periods. Min 13 Max 24Monday Chance of a shower. Min 14 Max 23Tuesday Chance of a shower. Min 14 Max 24Wednesday Partly cloudy. Min 13 Max 24Thursday Chance of a shower. Min 12 Max 24

Best regards

Tyrone

[Trópico]

The "Greenland Block". That was the mechanism that triggered last winter's persistent cold. Looks like it's formed again. http://www.weather.com/outlook/weather-news/news/articles/december-cold-and-snow-lurking_2010-12-01

[SubTropicRay]

The good news Frank is it's only early December and not late Dec or January. By the time Christmas gets here, the omega block "should" break down some. It is present every winter to some degree. Last year it was obviously very persistent. There is also no eastern snow pack (yet) like there was last year. Without that, the air can modify more as it comes south.

[PalmatierMeg]

44.2F low this morning so we dodged the predicted 40. The Socratea and all 3 Cyrtostachys are indoors. Looks like they will be for the next 7 or so nights. These training cold fronts seem like a re-run of last winter but starting a month early. I'm already tired of it.

When I got home last night I spent the remaining 45 minutes before sundown watering the mulch in my shade garden with recycled irrigation water. My hope was that by soaking the ground beneath my cold sensitive palms with warm-ish water (~70F) that evaporation would hamper radiational cooling and release a tiny bit of heat energy to moderate temps. It was breezy so foliage dried quickly even though temps were quickly falling into the 50s.

[greekpalm]

well greece got spared from the extreme cold spell in europe and december started in athens with 24 C/ 75 F and south greece had 27 C / 80 C

[tank]

WTF 24F on Monday, 25F on Tuesday and 28F on Wednesday.

I thought I lived in Florida?

[SunnyFl]

WTF 24F on Monday, 25F on Tuesday and 28F on Wednesday.

I thought I lived in Florida?

Yeah, really - I heard about those 20s up your way and I couldn't believe it. Seems like a re-run of last winter only earlier. If it's this bad in early December what will January bring......

Very cold here. Already sick of it.

But the Sybil Griffin in my living room sure looks terrific.

[PalmatierMeg]

Cold to carry on for the "foreseeable future". Already the predicted low for next Thur is 38F (after 42, 41, 41.....)

[Tyrone]

Cool weather continues. Around 22C today and even a spot of rain. More like October. Very cold for December.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Daryl]

Rain, rain and more rain here...good for the garden, but a bit monotonous for humans!

Daryl

[Tyrone]

No sunburn on anything then Daryl.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Tyrone]

Weird combination today. Cloudy and a bit of rain with 22C, but a clear sky UV index of 14!!! In the top half of the sub tropics the UV Index is a scorching 17 right across the country.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Trópico]

Right now, at high 50s, the calm before the storm. A stream of mid-low 30's predicted for the (normal) workweek with 30°F on Tuesday night.

If this comes to pass, this will be the earliest freeze so far in my 12 or so years of living here.

Edited December 5, 2010 by Trópico

[Xenon]

Lows in the upper 30s/lower 40s and highs near 60...

Jonathan

[SubTropicRay]

Don't look now but the 18Z GFS model today showed a 1989 type freeze over Florida on December 13th. It's still 9 days out but some of the weather media outlets are talking about this.

[SubTropicRay]

.

[happ]

After a chilly start with frost reported in the usual cold pockets early this past week followed by warmth, the airmass has become more oceanic and zonal this weekend. Storms offshore are mostly restricted to areas north of southern California but tomorrow night could be fairly wet in LA. Beyond that the models seem to favor dry conditions for a while [perhaps a week or more

It was cool and mostly cloudy today: Hi: 65F\ 18.3C & Lo: 53F\ 11.6C

[Rusty on Pine Is.]

Don't look now but the 18Z GFS model today showed a 1989 type freeze over Florida on December 13th. It's still 9 days out but some of the weather media outlets are talking about this.

I was looking at that yesterday, Ray, and it looked like there may be another event around the 20th or so as well...

....but i decided to check the run this morning and back check it against the current temps, since the run wont be updated this early....it's temp line is off by a pretty fair amount, even given a 12 hour prediction.

It does show a switch in the NAO about that time, which would mean it would be brief if it does happen.

Rusty

[Mark Heath]

Right now, at high 50s, the calm before the storm. A stream of mid-low 30's predicted for the (normal) workweek with 30°F on Tuesday night.

If this comes to pass, this will be the earliest freeze so far in my 12 or so years of living here.

Here we go again! Next tuesday and wednesday mornings are going to be the first blast of many i fear. I am usually 5 degrees colder than downtown Orlando.

Man i miss Miami!

I hope what Ray is reading is wrong,, all of us do!

[cfkingfish]

I am setting fire to my Carrotwood and Norfolk Island Pines to give more ambient heat tomorrow night.

[JayW]

I was in hopes that we would have a "somewhat" warmer winter this year. Yesterday morning my field gauge bottomed out at 28.7* and my gauge between my block house and block shed showed 31.9*. We had a very heavy frost and my grass is now brown, as well as some plants! It's supposed to be even colder this week... I live out in the country and all of the houses are several acres apart. I can actually drive 2 miles up the road and the outside temp gauge on my 4Runner will usually go up by 5-6 degrees on a cold night.

Edited December 5, 2010 by JayW