December 2010 thread

[Jimbean]

NWS has lowered it again! I am now in the mid 20's.

[Trópico]

Considering how inland and north Orlando-Sanford is, looks like a nice microclimate. We are looking about the same as Palm Beach. But 26°F is still a hard freeze.

[epicure3]

Seriously?? Seriously?? Seriously?? Seriously??

[the continuous loop in my head as I read the forecasts]

Time to break out the smudgepots, if not for the wind

Eric, I used home made versions of smudgepots last year and they seemed to keep the temps up enough to avoid a total wipeout. We took every lantern and tiki torch we could get our hands on and put them in cinderblocks for stability, then built little brick chimneys around them so that the flames couldn't escape with the wind and the chimneys could radiate the heat outward rather than just losing it to the sky. We spent the few nice hours we had yesterday getting them all fueled up and ready for this event. It's dirty and the fuel gets expensive, but worth it IMO.

That's a great idea.

[SubTropicRay]

Tampa still expected to fall between 30 and 32F.

[JayW]

We bottomed out last week at 23* and this is looking to be much colder???

[_Keith]

25 low at my house, 23 low in Baton Rouge tonight. With 1/2 to 1 day usual delay, I'd say you folks in Central FL may have yet another cold one tomorrow night as well.

[epicure3]

Tampa still expected to fall between 30 and 32F.

From what I just saw on The Weather Channel, that looks very optimistic.

[happ]

32.2C in So Cal in winter!!!!!! We never get winter temps like that here. Someone's broke the weather machine.

There is a high likelihood of a cyclone forming tomorrow night or on Wed off the NW coast of Oz. Predicted path is SSE. We could get some rain.

Best regards

Tyrone

I'm surprised that winter maximums do not occasionally exceed 90F\ 32.2C around Perth esp since your latitude is more favorable than southern California. Perhaps the mountains tend to funnel and warm the wind more-so in California than Western Australia. Today was cooler [mainly in the 80's - 26-31C] but a major shift in the pattern will usher in clouds and possibly heavy showers toward to the end of the week.

Again, I am hoping the best for Florida

[gsytch]

Still in the 40's here at 945pm. Winds NW gusting 20/30 mph is off the water and keeping my yard warmer. Now, if the wind stays up it will save my yard! However, it never made 50F today, again, for the 3rd time this December already! I am amazed at the depth of the cold last year AND so far this year. I have lived here since 1988, and there have been few days anywhere near as cold as the dozen or so since Jan 2010. That's cold!

[Alicehunter2000]

Just reached the freezing point at 8:45 pm....gonna be a long cold night.

[cfkingfish]

It is still 45F here at 1115pm, and I see scattered clouds coming off the Gulf. Daddy wants a frost free night! I am tired of dragging blankets around like Linus.

[Takil-Explorer]

In the old days they used to place firebaskets in French vineyards when springfrosts where predicted. Maybe you should place firebaskets arround tender stuff and light them during the night. It seems you get some Dutch temperatures down there! Well only for a short time! Not like here...

Alexander

[Tyrone]

32.2C in So Cal in winter!!!!!! We never get winter temps like that here. Someone's broke the weather machine.

There is a high likelihood of a cyclone forming tomorrow night or on Wed off the NW coast of Oz. Predicted path is SSE. We could get some rain.

Best regards

Tyrone

I'm surprised that winter maximums do not occasionally exceed 90F\ 32.2C around Perth esp since your latitude is more favorable than southern California. Perhaps the mountains tend to funnel and warm the wind more-so in California than Western Australia. Today was cooler [mainly in the 80's - 26-31C] but a major shift in the pattern will usher in clouds and possibly heavy showers toward to the end of the week.

Again, I am hoping the best for Florida

I think the winter record for Perth is 27C and that was about 25 years ago. Our winter temps don't swing much at all. In a normal year its quite stable.

Best regards

Tyrone

[Takil-Explorer]

Here they grow some cabbage wich needs frost to taste better! Maybe something to grow downthere to.

Alexander

[Tyrone]

Just reached the freezing point at 8:45 pm....gonna be a long cold night.

Yikes.......

[Trópico]

Hit freezing at around 12:43 AM, bottomed out a few minutes ago, 26.4°F.

[Trópico]

They lowered tonight's forecast to 28°F.

[Central Floridave]

[junglegalfla]

I bottomed out at 35.4 about a half hour ago. Weather underground was the closest at 36 in their predictions for this event. The rest put me with lows between 37 & 39 degrees.

[JayW]

I bottomed out at 23.2*... water lines froze... lots of good stuff!

[spockvr6]

I bottomed out at 35.4 about a half hour ago. Weather underground was the closest at 36 in their predictions for this event. The rest put me with lows between 37 & 39 degrees.

Pretty much the same here Bren (bottomed at 35.6F at 743AM). NWS was closest for me this time (they said 33F), while WU and WC both said 29F.

But, I suppose tonight theyll all get a chance to redeem themselves as some forecasts are showing 27F!

[redant]

Well I think we did OK here, somewhere between 29 and 30 and no frost. forcast was for 26, 23 in WPB which is strange as it's always warmer there. The highly unscientific bird bath test showed significantly more ice in it in one of last years events then this one.

Edited December 14, 2010 by redant

[Alicehunter2000]

Not that much colder here in the far north coastal zone....we bottomed out somewhere in the upper 20's. Duration is the problem once again 12 plus hours now of freezing temps.

[PalmatierMeg]

Hit 34.8 here. High to soar to 52. Supposed to drop to 31 tonight.

[cfkingfish]

32.8 here, I stayed up most the night but was not up to see if there was any frost.

[PalmatierMeg]

Weather.com has dropped my next low to 30. *sigh*

[SubTropicRay]

33 with a cold breeze here last night. Unfortunately, the worst still lies ahead.

[bubba]

We had 35F. here but 33F. at PBI, which ties 1962 record. Intersting to note that it seems clder on the East side of the State than the West. Seems to be starting a new trend.

I have yet to hear what the Glades near Pahokee scored. Close to the Lake around Pahokee is one of the warmest spots in the mainland for lows. I think they have some nuclear deposits out in that area.

I do not feel that this was anywhere close to 1962 in severity but if this keeps up, Panama may be next.

[ThunderSRQ]

This has got to be the strangest weather note I've seen in a LONG time -- it was 10 degrees warmer in Caribou, Maine than it was in Miami this morning!!!

[Tomw]

We had 35F. here but 33F. at PBI, which ties 1962 record. Intersting to note that it seems clder on the East side of the State than the West. Seems to be starting a new trend.

I have yet to hear what the Glades near Pahokee scored. Close to the Lake around Pahokee is one of the warmest spots in the mainland for lows. I think they have some nuclear deposits out in that area.

I do not feel that this was anywhere close to 1962 in severity but if this keeps up, Panama may be next.

bubba,

I believe that the higher temps are due to the wind blowing over the "warmer" waters, the Gulf and Lake Okeechobee.

[Tampa Scott]

I had a low of 31 here on the NW Tampa side. Only below 32 for a couple hrs at sunrise.

[Eric in Orlando]

29F here at Leu Gardens. We also have 7 min/max thermometers placed around the property (50 acres). They measured from 28-31F. The 28F was in the normally coldest area of the Garden, 31F at the lakefront, we are on the SE side of Lake Rowena.

As for the 2 official Orlando NWS recording stations;

Orlando Executive Airport had 28F

Orlando Intl Airport had 29F

It was a breezy night so no frost. Tonight is supposed to be around 29-30F w/ light winds in the metro area

[cobra2326]

25.8 in Spring Hill, with about 5 hours below freezing. Everything was protected so I don't expect any losses. Tonight is supposed to be 19F!

[tank]

22F up here in chilly North Florida. Much warmer than the forecasted 17F by Accuweather. Luckily the Gale Force winds yesterday didn't knock down my impromptu Greenhouse.

[PalmatierMeg]

How low can it go? Overnight freefall now down to 29F. Give me a mild 33F anytime.

[Jimbean]

Public Information Statement

Statement as of 10:35 am EST on December 14, 2010

Below are some morning low temperatures, freeze durations, and wind

chills from selected sites across east central Florida for Tuesday

December 14th.

====================================================================

Official NWS stations low this

location morning:

Daytona Beach (volusia) 24 (9/3 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Leesburg (lake) 27 (9/1.5 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Sanford (seminole) 26 (8.5/2.5 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Melbourne (brevard) 29 (5.5 hours at or < 32 degrees)

Orlando Intl apt (orange) 28 (7 hours at or < 32 degrees)

Orlando exec apt (orange) 28 (7 hours at or < 32 degrees)

Vero Beach (indian river) 26 (7/1 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Fort Pierce (st. Lucie) 25 (8.5/1.5 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

=====================================================================

Cooperative stations - overnight lows through 7 am at :

(temperatures were likely lower after 7 am at some locations)

Melbourne Beach (brevard) 28 (through 7 am)

Melbourne WFO (brevard) 28 (through 7 am)

Palm Bay (brevard) 25 (through 7 am)

Scottsmoor (brevard) 20 (through 7 am)

Titusville (brevard) 27 (through 7 am)

Vero Beach (indian river) 27 (through 7 am)

Clermont (lake) 27 (through 7 am)

Lisbon (lake) 27 (through 7 am)

Stuart (martin) 31 (through 7 am)

Port Salerno (martin) 28 (through 7 am)

Fort Drum (okeechobee) 23 (through 7 am)

Okeechobee (okeechobee) 27 (through 7 am)

Kenansville (osceola) 23 (through 7 am)

Plymouth (orange) 26 (through 7 am)

Windermere (orange) 27 (through 7 am)

Sanford (seminole) 28 (through 7 am)

Nettles Island (st. Lucie) 31 (through 7 am)

Deland (volusia) 25 (through 7 am)

Ponce Inlet (volusia) 27 (through 7 am)

====================================================================

Fawn sites

(university of Florida agricultural weather sites, rural locations)

Okahumpka (lake) 24 (9.5/4 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Umatilla (lake) 26 (9/3 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Apopka (orange) 27 (8/1 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Avalon (orange) 27 (8/2 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Kenansville (osceola) 26 (8/3.5 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Pierson (volusia) 27 (8/.5 hours at or < 32/27 degrees)

Ft. Pierce (st. Lucie) 28 (6 hours at or below 32 degrees)

====================================================================

Lowest recorded wind chill values at selected sites

Cape Canaveral (brevard) 20

Kennedy space ctr (brevard) 19

Melbourne (brevard) 20

Patrick AFB (brevard) 18

Titusville (brevard) 14

Vero Beach (indian river) 19

Leesburg (lake) 17

Okeechobee (okeechobee) 22

Orlando exec apt. (Orange) 20

Orlando Intl apt. (Orange) 19

Kissimmee (osceola) 18

Sanford (seminole) 16

Fort Pierce (st. Lucie) 19

Daytona Beach (volusia) 17

[Jimbean]

29F Rockeldge

27F Port St. John

[Walt]

Heck, I actually recorded a colder low last Tuesday morning when my Oregon Scientific recorded 23.9 at 4 feet above the ground (radiational cooling night/morning). I had my sensor in a flannel pillow case suspended from a step ladder rung, set up in the open yard.

This morning my low (same location) was exactly 25 degrees. However, there was more foilage damage at higher levels on things such as Ficus trees, climbing vines, etc., this morning because the air wasn't as stratified due to the advective nature of this morning's freeze. Last Tuesday's radiational event allowed air temperatures to rise markedly the higher from the ground.

Of course, all this will be academic because they are calling for low of between 20-27 (low ground to high ground) degrees F here tonight, accompanied by frost.

I have 27 Archontophoenix cunninghamiana in the ground. Only two so far show any leaf damage. I all but know this is due to lack of frost, as most of these palms are planted in more sheltered locations. Same with many majesty palms, a Corypha utan, and Sabal mauritiiformis. But tomorrow they should get a double whammy, both low temperature and frost.

Below is my more exposed Ficus altissima (I have another one like this growing on the southside of my property in a more sheltered area that went undamaged). The north side of this tree is totally exposed to the open north yard. From the ground up to about 8 feet most of the leaves were cold damaged and outright killed. This was from two back to back radiational cooling nights when I recorded 25.6 F and 23.9 F respectively. But last night was an advective 25 F; hence, my entire outside of the tree got severe leaf damage. The interior leaves still seem to be okay. But again, after tomorrow morning's low 20s with frost, I'm sure 90% of the tree will be defoliated.

[tank]

Interesting pic for Florida's lows tonight.

The Gainesville/Ocala area seems to have lost the lottery.

[gsytch]

35.8F low here in New Port Richey but only hit 44F this afternoon. Calmer winds, clear skies = bitter freeze I am sure. Floriduh is becoming an ice pack lately!