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Our First Cold Front


Moose

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50.9 this morning.

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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It is currently 36.3F at almost 7am. No frost I can see. Last night the clouds cleared just at sunset, so while they prevented any heating during the day (never got above 58F), it created great radiational cooling and no GOM influence. The last 70F temp was last Saturday, and this past week it rarely made it above 60F. I am just north of Clearwater, so whomever takes Tampa temps, once again they lie lol........"tourist temps" we call it! A very chilly fall it has been. :yay:

Begonias are my thing. I've been growing and selling them for three decades, nearly two in Tampa Bay. NPR is an bhour N of St Pete, coast

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It is currently 36.3F at almost 7am. No frost I can see. Last night the clouds cleared just at sunset, so while they prevented any heating during the day (never got above 58F), it created great radiational cooling and no GOM influence. The last 70F temp was last Saturday, and this past week it rarely made it above 60F. I am just north of Clearwater, so whomever takes Tampa temps, once again they lie lol........"tourist temps" we call it! A very chilly fall it has been. :yay:

Warming trend is the forecast. How long it will last ,,, take any warm temps we can get.

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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This protracted cold (relatively speaking) event reminds me of the early December 2010 cold event, only this one is milder.

The December 2010 cold event saw 11 straight nights below 40 degrees here (Highlands County, Florida), with lower than average daytime highs. During that spell I recorded six nights below 30 degrees. December of 2010, both Florida and Georgia recorded their all-time lowest monthly average temperature since records have been kept.

Actually, the coldest night so far that I've had was back on November 2nd, when my radiational cooling low was 38 degrees. In my 17+ years living here I've never recorded so low a temperature so early in the season. SInce that date my lowest temperature was this morning, when my lowest wireless thermometer read exactly 41 degrees, which was colder than yesterday's low of 44.7 degrees. I figured this morning would be lower as my high yesterday was 61 degrees, dropping off to 49 degrees by 8:30 last night. But, luckily, the rate of temperature drop started to slow down during the night.

Mad about palms

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as of 9:20 am ive already warmed up to 61....will finally have a nice day since a week of cold. one of my coconut seedlings was 50% defoliated from this cold front event....others untouched

Edited by empireo22
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47.8 this morning. We had a 2-day garage sale yesterday & today. Like to froze to death both mornings standing outside. Didn't start warming till 10 a.m.

After another night or two in the 40s temps begin to rise toward some semblance of norml. But...... By about 12/24 lows will plummet to around 40 for another session of cold-o-rama. Definitely not a "warmer than normal Dec."

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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It was another 48F this morning. It's like a broken record but I'll take this all winter long. Keep those 30's far, far away. Florida is the only state in the country with below normal temps right now. It was warmer in Sioux City, Iowa this morning than Orlando.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Where I moved from 8 months ago, Spirit Lake, Iowa will have a low of 46F tonight, Cape Coral is forecasting 43F!

Lived in Cape Coral, Miami, Orlando and St. Petersburg Florida.

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Sometimes a cold high settles over FL behind a cold front

and southerly winds ahead of the next system make the Midwest warmer. Calm

or light northerly winds,clear/ skies and

low humidity create ideal radiational events.

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The persistent Nor'easter is what caused this extended cool spell. Cool air funneled into Florida when sandwiched in between east coast low pressure and the high pressure over the Midwest.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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48.0 Sun

47.8 today

So tired of this. So are my Areca macrocarpa

Meg

Palms of Victory I shall wear

Cape Coral (It's Just Paradise)
Florida
Zone 10A on the Isabelle Canal
Elevation: 15 feet

I'd like to be under the sea in an octopus' garden in the shade.

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at 6 AM I am sitting at 51F, but other locations nearby are reading as low as 41F. There are some 30's in Florida but lows are in the 50's and 60's in Alabama and parts of Georgia right now.

Brevard County, Fl

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I had four consecutive nights in the 30'sF, starting with Friday AM when it was 38.9F, low of 36.3F Sat AM, and upper 30'sF last two. 51F now with fog. Sea breeze kept afternoon temps down, so when it died at sunset radiational cooling knocked us good. I do not see any major cold surges in the next few weeks, perhaps chilly but no arctic air. :mrlooney::mrlooney:

Begonias are my thing. I've been growing and selling them for three decades, nearly two in Tampa Bay. NPR is an bhour N of St Pete, coast

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Lowest here so far has been 42F. But it has been in the low/mid 40s 7 straight mornings now. 70s/50s now for the rest of the week. It has actually felt nice, the older I get the more I enjoy COOLER weather. But I hate COLD.

Eric

Orlando, FL

zone 9b/10a

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Nice and warm little shower this morning....short sleeve shirt for work today....nice change....been cool and dry for weeks....like Cali weather

David Simms zone 9a on Highway 30a

200 steps from the Gulf in NW Florida

30 ft. elevation and sandy soil

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Lowest here has been 42F as well. It has been consistently cool at night but then warms up to at least the mid 60's to mid 70's in the day. Right now at 11AM it is 68F.

Brevard County, Fl

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I have three wireless remote thermometer sensors out and have recorded several mornings (not this morning, was 43) down into the high 30s. On the coldest of the three (it depends on the location where they are placed) I recorded 36.8 degrees Sunday and Monday morning. All cold nights are due to radiational cooling.

Yesterday morning I decided to conduct another test (I did this last year) to see how much of a factor elevation played here on the south end of Lake Wales Ridge. Without exception, on radiational cooling nights, it's always warmer up on the ridge.

The start of my test had my wife leaving for work (to drive up to north Sebring, Florida) from our home on the north end of Sylvan Shores (1-1/2 miles N.E. of Lake Placid, Florida). I stayed in cell phone contact with her until the test was completed.

When my wife pulled out of the driveway at 6:30 a.m. her car thermometer read 38 degrees (my lowest wireless read 37.8). When my wife turned west on Lagrow Ave. (to drive up to US 27) and started up the ridge, the car's thermometer began to rise. Approximately halfway up the thermometer read 43 degrees.

When my wife turned on to US 27 and was abreast with Florida Hospital Lake Placid, her thermometer read 45 degrees. About one mile farther north were Rt. 17 intersects with US 27 (at the highest point on the ridge in my area) the car temperature read 48 degrees! It was still pitch dark, so the increase in temperature almost had to be due to a warmer air inversion layer, and not thermal warming from the sun.

I always knew this intersection area was a warm spot on radiational cooling nights, because back in December of 2010 when I dropped into the low 20s at my place (just a few miles away), a house at this intersection had large papayas that weren't even fazed. That pretty much told me it didn't get below 30-32.

I've said this many times over the years, I just wish I knew 17+ years ago (when I bought my low ground property) that high ground out here in the deepest inland was significantly warmer on radiational cooling nights -- which are about 95% of our coldest nights here. Even at my location, not once has it dropped lower than 29 degrees (and with no frost) on an advective cooling night, and that was in January of 2003. All my worst palm and tropical plant hurting or killing cold is from radiational cooling nights with frost.

Aside from that -- life's good!

Mad about palms

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I'll bet the land price on the ridge is higher too.

Not at all. It's basically only the lakefront properties that are high in price relative to the surrounding properties. Most ridge properties are rural and scrub land for the most part and offer little appeal to the average buyer. But I'm not the average buyer. I wanted privacy, and it takes acreage and lots of trees, shrubs, etc., to achieve that. If I could roll back the clock I surely would have looked for at least a 5 acre parcel on the highest ground I could find, especially on the east side of the ridge, which is the warmest side.

For those that don't care about privacy but want to live in a lake front community, then it's best to buy across the street from the lake (the poor side of the street, as they say here). Because you almost get the full thermal benefit of the lake without the high intitial cost of the property and higher property taxes. That's what my buddy did 10 years ago. He lives across the street from Lake June (east side) on higher ground that slopes to the lake. Some winters he never goes below 40 degrees. And he's never been under 32 degrees. His coldest night so far this season has been 44 degrees.

  • Upvote 1

Mad about palms

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I'll bet the land price on the ridge is higher too.

Not at all. It's basically only the lakefront properties that are high in price relative to the surrounding properties. Most ridge properties are rural and scrub land for the most part and offer little appeal to the average buyer. But I'm not the average buyer. I wanted privacy, and it takes acreage and lots of trees, shrubs, etc., to achieve that. If I could roll back the clock I surely would have looked for at least a 5 acre parcel on the highest ground I could find, especially on the east side of the ridge, which is the warmest side.

For those that don't care about privacy but want to live in a lake front community, then it's best to buy across the street from the lake (the poor side of the street, as they say here). Because you almost get the full thermal benefit of the lake without the high intitial cost of the property and higher property taxes. That's what my buddy did 10 years ago. He lives across the street from Lake June (east side) on higher ground that slopes to the lake. Some winters he never goes below 40 degrees. And he's never been under 32 degrees. His coldest night so far this season has been 44 degrees.

Good to know! Thank you.

Brevard County, Fl

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you FL guys have it soooooo good..... :violin:

John Case

Brentwood CA

Owner and curator of Hana Keu Garden

USDA Zone 9b more or less, Sunset Zone 14 in winter 9 in summer

"Its always exciting the first time you save the world. Its a real thrill!"

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you FL guys have it soooooo good..... :violin:

It just is what it is. I think the same way about people in South Florida.

Brevard County, Fl

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49 again this morning. That's at least 3 days in a row now and had a 45 last week. Still haven't brought manicaria saccifera in yet. I've read it is very cold sensitive and was told its a goner under 50. If it gets really cold ill probably bring it in but these nights right under 50 gonna continue to leave it out. Curious to see what it will take.any one else growing?

Thanks Dominic

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Finally a bit of a warming trend. Our averages have been below normal, just no severe fronts have passed through yet ...

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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The temperatures in Houston have been relativly stable since the polar vortices came and went in November. No freeze yet in most of Houston. The average first 32 at Hobby airport in SE Houston is December 20th. The ten day forecast through December 28th shows the highs ranging from 59 to 71 and the lows ranging from 43 to 62, pretty much nomal with no extreams. Average last 32 at Hobby airport is in early February. Tender plants like alocasias, pothos and bannas still look good. Just when is the bottom going to drop out?

Ed in Houston

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The NAO and AO are both going negative in early January with a positive PNA. That basically means a big trough in the east and ridge over California. The negative AO means arctic air can come southeast in unimpeded fashion. Look for winter to begin right on schedule with a Florida freeze very possible before the 15th of January.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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I hope that doesn't come to pass, for Florida and California (rain). It could still change. Forecasts that for out can be off

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The NAO and AO are both going negative in early January with a positive PNA. That basically means a big trough in the east and ridge over California. The negative AO means arctic air can come southeast in unimpeded fashion. Look for winter to begin right on schedule with a Florida freeze very possible before the 15th of January.

So is it just a matter of how far down the peninsula it will move?

Sometimes we get lucky with a high pressure system that deflects the system, curtailing its potential devastating effect.

I think Keith in Louisiana would get hit hard if this were to happen.

Coral Gables, FL 8 miles North of Fairchild USDA Zone 10B

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Well there's been an about face in one week. The AO looks to skyrocket in the positive direction and the NAO and PNA look to be neutral. It seems California may get some more needed rain and the east may see normal to above normal temps into mid January. Let's hope this trend continues.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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The negative AO is on its way. However, the subtropical jetstream should deflect the cold air and keep it north of FL. You never know when one push makes it through. For now, we appear safe, but January is a long month! Have a wonderful, warm Christmas Day! :drool:

Begonias are my thing. I've been growing and selling them for three decades, nearly two in Tampa Bay. NPR is an bhour N of St Pete, coast

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  • 2 weeks later...

was 50 this morning but with wind-chill felt like one of the coldest days so far this winter. only got to 60 today

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