Floridians beware

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Jan. 29 2007,07:54)

QUOTE

The mention of overnight high cirrus clouds is back in the Melbourne, Tampa and Miami area NWS discussions.  

Lets hope they arrive

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Jan. 29 2007,07:54)

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Larry, what are you going to do about the Pritchardia pacifica??  You dug it up last summer and potted it up right?

Of course not Ray!  That sucker is in the ground and flourishing!

Ill palm sock it up tonight and well see what happens.  Its big enough now (maybe 10 ft OA) that it seems tougher than it was last year.  This mornings 39.4F had not affected it (as of when I left for work this AM anyway).  But, I am sure it is on the brink.  I dont think I want to confirm whatever everyone else already has if tonights forecast hold true.

[galveston1602]

Larry,  the christmas lights are still up arent they?  

Ill give you the same advise you gave me, cover your stuff....

better to cover them 1 or 2 nights a year than to have to deal with an entire summer of freezer burn

plus, with the palm sock method it doesnt take long to do a coverage of the more tender stuff...

[tikitiki]

For Orlando I've seen anywhere from 30f to 37f for our low tonight. For me that is a huge gap. Who seems to be the most accurate so far this year in the terms of reporting the lows?

[BS Man about Palms]

I feel just as helpless reading your all's temperature problems as I did ours.... Good Luck.

Bill

[spockvr6]

(tikitiki @ Jan. 29 2007,09:09)

QUOTE

For Orlando I've seen anywhere from 30f to 37f for our low tonight. For me that is a huge gap. Who seems to be the most accurate so far this year in the terms of reporting the lows?

Same here tikitiki......

The forecasts range from 29F to 37F!  

IMO, the most accurate forecasters for my exact spot is (90% of the time) NWS.   But, even they blew it big time last night and missed it by almost 6 degrees.

[spockvr6]

(galveston1602 @ Jan. 29 2007,09:05)

QUOTE

Larry,  the christmas lights are still up arent they?  

Sure are....I leave them on for just this reason.  (But, I dont turn them on every night so people dont start to wonder about me.......LOL).

[spockvr6]

(galveston1602 @ Jan. 29 2007,09:05)

QUOTE

Ill give you the same advise you gave me, cover your stuff....

better to cover them 1 or 2 nights a year than to have to deal with an entire summer of freezer burn

plus, with the palm sock method it doesnt take long to do a coverage of the more tender stuff...

Yes....I will for sure palm sock the obvious and easy stuff.  There is no excuse to not do things liek Bottles, Spindles, Adonidias, etc that take about 2 minutes each to do, and can be completed without frond damage due to stiff foliage.

Many other things I may let go...well see.

The compounding factor is that I am sick as a dog right now (came down with a nasty cold).  So, my energy level is pretty stinking low

[spockvr6]

(BS, Man about Palms @ Jan. 29 2007,09:10)

QUOTE

I feel just as helpless reading your all's temperature problems as I did ours.... Good Luck.

Bill

But......the bright side is that all those Cali reports of surviving palms are still fresh in our minds!

So...this gives some positive spin to the whole event.

[ZoneTenNut]

O.K. I bottomed out here at 49F, but still far warmer than what had been predicted. Tomorrow morning though, is the big event.

[redant]

Strangely NWS, weather.com & accuweather.com all say 46 for tonight's low. Very strange that they all agree on this same number.

[spockvr6]

HA!

Now the spread is 11F

Accuweather.com has 34689 at 40F, while weatherunderground.com has 34689 at 29F!  Weather.com says 37F.

NWS splits the difference at 34F.

My gut level guess is that I will be happy to see an actual 34F!

[tank]

My location is usually warmer than the NWS reporting spot at the airport here in Gainesville.  Not last night.  The reported low at the airport was 31F, my low was 27F.

NWS pretty much nailed it last night.  They're calling for 23F tonight.

[SubTropicRay]

I want to see what the palm sock is going to look like in 5 years!

Even though I'm guilty of it myself, I've never been able to justify planting a palm, enjoying it for a few years and then losing it.  The bigger the palm gets before mother nature takes it, the greater the dissapointment.  I don't care if it cost $2 when you planted it.  It was worth $600 when you lost it.  Just my glass half empty perspective today.  Forgive me, I'm a grouch when the weather gets this way.

Ray

[BobbyinNY]

I want to see what the palm sock is going to look like in 5 years!

Even though I'm guilty of it myself, I've never been able to justify planting a palm, enjoying it for a few years and then losing it.  The bigger the palm gets before mother nature takes it, the greater the dissapointment.  I don't care if it cost $2 when you planted it.  It was worth $600 when you lost it.  Just my glass half empty perspective today.  Forgive me, I'm a grouch when the weather gets this way.

Ray

Ray, we must be made from the same mold... I think exactly the same way...   And every time someone says to me... "Wouldn't it just be cheaper to replace them", I have to give them a 40 minute lecture on things more important than money... (that concept is hard to understand if you're from New York..lol)

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Jan. 29 2007,11:29)

QUOTE

I want to see what the palm sock is going to look like in 5 years!

Many of them will/have become trunk wraps

I wont risk my @ss climbing rickety ladders to try and palm sock bigger palms (and thus also cover foliage).

The bigger ones can get trunk wraps and with the lights underneath, should easily survive (if perhaps looking ugly with beat up foliage for awhile).  It honestly does stay quite warm on the trunk with lights under a simple wrap.

[spockvr6]

(Ray, Tampa @ Jan. 29 2007,11:29)

QUOTE

Even though I'm guilty of it myself, I've never been able to justify planting a palm, enjoying it for a few years and then losing it.  The bigger the palm gets before mother nature takes it, the greater the dissapointment.  I don't care if it cost $2 when you planted it.  It was worth $600 when you lost it.  Just my glass half empty perspective today.  Forgive me, I'm a grouch when the weather gets this way.

Ray

Absolutely true......

But denying this (see my other posts) is my way of dealing with it!

[Kathy]

I'd like to rib you guys in Florida since I'd love to be just dealing with the temps you've had all winter..... but if I rib then either you or we will get hit hard, so I'll just send my sympathies....and good luck vibes....

BTW, Larry, would love to see pics of your "palm socks" with an explanation of how you do them exactly.  I've been hearing about them for a year now.... Is it just that you put screening/lights and then wrap with blankets?  Could you post a new thread with your pics?

Good luck guys.

[ZoneTenNut]

Its almost 1:00PM and it ain't warmed up much. Still 58.5F. Not good and this sucks! I'm freezing. Where did the good times go?

[spockvr6]

No warmup today at all.....barely in the low 50's most places over here

[BobbyinNY]

No warmup today at all.....barely in the low 50's most places over here  

If it makes you feel any better Larry, it's barely 30 here today , with a biting wind .....but it's 82 and sunny as I type sitting in my biosphere right now

[ZoneTenNut]

(BobbyinNY @ Jan. 29 2007,13:06)

QUOTE

but it's 82 and sunny as I type sitting in my biosphere right now

   

I can just picture you pecking away on the laptop, sipping a pina colada, with some reggae background music. I think the good times moved up to Long Island!

[BobbyinNY]

I can just picture you pecking away on the laptop, sipping a pina colada, with some reggae background music. I think the good times moved up to Long Island

I actually left work at lunch today cause I wasn't feeling well and, I gotta tell ya, sitting here in the sun really helps.... Sunshine and Warmth makes everything right.

[ZoneTenNut]

An article from the Sun Sentinel regarding potential frost tonight in western sections of Palm Beach, Broward, and Miami Dade counties. Looks to be shaping into a very cold event.

SunSentinel article

[Trópico]

Around the state on Monday: Low temperatures dipped to 23 degrees in Tallahassee, 24 in Gainesville and a record low 31 degrees in Orlando.

Where did they get that from?  ???

[FRITO]

This morning I recorded a low of 26.5 degrees on my weather meter. the 2 weather underground stations in  tallahassee had a recording of 29 degrees... hopefully my meter is wrong. hah

its almost 2 pm and temp is 45 degrees.

[ZoneTenNut]

(Trópico @ Jan. 29 2007,13:34)

QUOTE

Around the state on Monday: Low temperatures dipped to 23 degrees in Tallahassee, 24 in Gainesville and a record low 31 degrees in Orlando.

Where did they get that from?  ???

God only knows. I just take most of them with a grain of salt and prepare best I can based on gut feel. I went to Larry's school of meteorology.  

I finally, broke 60F with a current of 60.5F at 2:03pm. The winds seemed to have died down somewhat, so hopefully this will give it a chance to warm up further.

[ZoneTenNut]

61.2F at 3:46PM. We're fighting for every degree today.  

[Trópico]

Updated weather.com low for tonight in Orlando: 32ºF

[spockvr6]

(Trópico @ Jan. 29 2007,13:34)

QUOTE

Around the state on Monday: Low temperatures dipped to 23 degrees in Tallahassee, 24 in Gainesville and a record low 31 degrees in Orlando.

Where did they get that from?  ???

I think they might have meant to say that those are the record lows for tonight.

[spockvr6]

(ZoneTenNut @ Jan. 29 2007,15:42)

QUOTE

61.2F at 3:46PM. We're fighting for every degree today.  

High here today was 57.4F.

Oh.....forgot to mention.....that happened at 12:02AM!

The "real" afternoon high was 53.4F at 3:16PM.  Temps now pretty much bouncing around 51-52F as the wind cant make up its mind whether it wants to blow from the N or NW.

I have this feeling that winds are going to go calm after sunset and that would not be preferred!

[Alicehunter2000]

51.5 was our top temp today. It is not supposed to freeze here tonight. Some clouds are moving in. I know my temps were barely freezing last night because my banana leaves turned brown and went limp but my philodendrons are ok just a few feet away. Strange huh. Still bet you guys to the south won't see freezing temps. Good Luck.

[spockvr6]

(Alicehunter2000 @ Jan. 29 2007,18:23)

QUOTE

Still bet you guys to the south won't see freezing temps. Good Luck.

I hope you are right and your optimism is appreciated.

Its looking terrible right now as its barely 45F at 630PM and the bottom is still falling out

[SoLando]

Haven't been here in a while...but I'm worried. It's 50 now...and feeling like the north pole! Expected to get to freezing tonight and NOT looking forward to it. I don't have a good feeling about this. We didn't see the 30s today, got in the car at 6 and it was 43. I hope I see something similar to that tomorrow (and all I'm hoping for are the wimpy 40s!!). I hope this freeze (if that) doesn't do too much damage as the temps have been on the warm side lately (besides these past couple days). ...All I want are the 50s and 60s now! Thought that'd never come out of my mouth!!!

....Thank GOD for the urban heat island effect. I'm betting we'll bottom out at 34-35ish here. We always tend to be 2-3 degrees warmer.

[tropical1]

Anyone have clouds? At 7pm,I have some high clouds streaming in. Hopefully, they will stick around. Temp 44, Dewpoint is 34 F, Wind is Calm.

southwest and southeast floirda look fine. Miami low is 51F.

[SoLando]

I honestly can't tell if there are any clouds - terrible vision. But, it's 47 right now with a dewpoint of 23.

[ruskinPalms]

I lied   . After reading a post from Larry saying that he protected the easy stuff I figured I may as well try to do somthing. My wife is a good sport and let me put some of our extra bed linens out over some of the more tender exposed stuff.    I know this is not going to be that effective as protection, but oh well, it took 5 minutes to do. Most of my stuff is planted next to the house so we will be testing that theory out. I have seen some scary reports from Cali that mention cold air draining off the house onto the palms - that would suck...Anyway here are some pics of my quick protection.

[ruskinPalms]

Notice that water is like glass back there...

[ruskinPalms]

Generic palm sock...er mango sock.

[ruskinPalms]

By the way, there is a tool on the FAWN website to predict your low. They have it set for sunset at 6:00 pm tonight so if you have dewpoint and temp data for around that time then you can get probably the best forcast for your immediate area for the ultimate low. I think that formula was made for nights like tonight - windless and clear.

17:58

Temp: 52.2 F

Dewpoint: 27.3 F

Predicted Low: 32F

Edit: here is the website -

http://fawn.ifas.ufl.edu/scripts/brunt.asp