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Moose

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Feast or famine here. After half a month of plentiful rain and a happy, care (watering) free garden, rain has been virtually absent since Sunday. We have had less than 1/4" since and the forecast after today looks fairly dry, though rain chances go up toward the end of the 7 day forecast. Despite good rain chances today, it is pretty clear that the storm activity is going to stay to the south of us. The sprinkler comes out today.

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I haven't kept close track, but we're had reason every day but two for about a month. I'm loving it!

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50" of rain (our normal yearly total) have already fallen in 2015 including 8" in August.

Tampa, Interbay Peninsula, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10A

Bokeelia, Pine Island, Florida, USA

subtropical USDA Zone 10B

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Flooding in my nearby area. Some of the older locals say it is the worst they have seen in 30+ years. I haven't rain my irrigation in months now.

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The region from Tampa northward has been extraordinarily wet. When I was a kid in Tampa, we once had Old Tampa Bay creeping across the front yard. It didn't quite make it to the house, but I bet the house has flooded at least once since then.

Fla. climate center: 100-119 days>85 F
USDA 1990 hardiness zone 9B
Current USDA hardiness zone 10a
4 km inland from Indian River; 27º N (equivalent to Brisbane)

Central Orlando's urban heat island may be warmer than us

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I live in the more or less mid point ( north to south ) of the Daytona Beach area .

Recent rain has been variable . Officially , we are about 2.5" down on the year so far .

Yesterday , there was rain both north and south , but mid area received only about 0.15 " .

That is the nature of summertime Thunderstorms .

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  • 3 weeks later...

Another wet month, I received 14.26" in August, and the remnants of Erika did not bring the flooding rains as forecasted, at least not here.

So we had a very good rainy season this year, over 10" in June, 14.60" in July and 14.26" in August. I wonder what September will bring?

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

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  • 1 month later...

Miami Dade county is behind our average total for the year by about 11 inches. Broward faired much worse, down about 20 inches from their normal average. This was the driest July and August that I can recall. Thankfully there is a shower going on right now :wub:

Edited by Moose

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

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After a nice wet September, tomorrow will mark four weeks since measurable precipitation at my house.  Though I have no underground, "central" sprinkling system for my yard, I water in a circular pattern around the whole yard from one 100 ft hose and attached sprinkler (the sprinkler attachment waters a large circular area just like rainfall).  This rotation around the yard takes a week to complete (20 separate sprinkling stations to cover every square foot of yard) and amounts to between 60-65 hours of the hose running at full blast.  Despite the obvious effects on the water bill, my whole property is staying just as moist as during the rainy season and the plants look great because of it.  I'm sure my aggressive fertilizing regiment helps as well.  Temperatures have been warm enough (65-72F at night and 78-85F during the day) to continue this type of watering without concern for over-watering and rot problems, and I plan to back off a bit once things cool off further next month.  I won't be running the sprinkler over an area of my tropical jungle for 3 hours at 10 pm when the temperature is 55F!  That reminds me, we haven't been below 60F yet this fall here, which is a bit unusual.  I think our lowest has been 62F-63F.

 Many nearby landscapes which lack irrigation are looking really rough now.  I think a substantial number of local crepe myrtles (esp municipal plantings) lose their leaves from drought in October and November here, before they ever get a chance to show fall colors and go deciduous the normal way.  If they make it with enough water until mid to late December and we get some sustained chill, they put on quite a color show in the Orlando area.

I expect the wetter El Nino pattern to kick in next month sometime (I hope at least), but until then, I think measurable rainfall will continue to be virtually absent.

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After a nice wet September, tomorrow will mark four weeks since measurable precipitation at my house.  Though I have no underground, "central" sprinkling system for my yard, I water in a circular pattern around the whole yard from one 100 ft hose and attached sprinkler (the sprinkler attachment waters a large circular area just like rainfall).  This rotation around the yard takes a week to complete (20 separate sprinkling stations to cover every square foot of yard) and amounts to between 60-65 hours of the hose running at full blast.  Despite the obvious effects on the water bill, my whole property is staying just as moist as during the rainy season and the plants look great because of it.  I'm sure my aggressive fertilizing regiment helps as well.  Temperatures have been warm enough (65-72F at night and 78-85F during the day) to continue this type of watering without concern for over-watering and rot problems, and I plan to back off a bit once things cool off further next month.  I won't be running the sprinkler over an area of my tropical jungle for 3 hours at 10 pm when the temperature is 55F!  That reminds me, we haven't been below 60F yet this fall here, which is a bit unusual.  I think our lowest has been 62F-63F.

 Many nearby landscapes which lack irrigation are looking really rough now.  I think a substantial number of local crepe myrtles (esp municipal plantings) lose their leaves from drought in October and November here, before they ever get a chance to show fall colors and go deciduous the normal way.  If they make it with enough water until mid to late December and we get some sustained chill, they put on quite a color show in the Orlando area.

I expect the wetter El Nino pattern to kick in next month sometime (I hope at least), but until then, I think measurable rainfall will continue to be virtually absent.

That must be expensive!

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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I am sure it will end up being fairly expensive.  Hopefully the El Nino wetness kicks in soon!

How often would you say each area gets watered? I've got sprinklers set up at my garden while I'm away at school and I'm wondering when to cut down the watering. I had it set to 3 days per week for 30 minutes but I'm thinking I should cut it down to 2 now that it's cooling off. 

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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That sounds reasonable Keith, especially if you cut down in early November when temps cool down another "notch".  When we start getting 77-83F for highs and 55-62F for lows.  Each area gets watered thoroughly for 3 hours once per week, with a good amount of overlap over the yard as a whole due to sprinkler placement.  This has been plenty for the in-ground stuff, though I have spot watered some plants/palms to supplement as needed.  A few areas have looked a bit dried out in the full sun parts of the yard by the time it is the area's turn for watering again.  The key seems to giving an area a good, several hour soaking so deep watering is achieved.  I won't even waste my time with 20-30 minute waterings in an area, as this just doesn't cut it.  The potted stuff and the orchids get watered more frequently, on a totally different and individualized schedule to meet each plant's needs.  I will probably cut down to 2 hours per station in November and of course less if we can get a semi-decent rain (0.25-0.5") at least once per week.

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Okay thanks for the advice! I'll see if I can change the settings on my sprinkler system so that I can run each zone on a specific day, rather than running all 6 m/w/f. That would let me water deeper, as 2 hours of watering per zone would mean that I'd have the sprinklers running all night!

Keith 

Palmetto, Florida (10a) and Tampa, Florida (9b/10a)

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  • 4 weeks later...

What a beautiful day in SW Florida, mid 70's, dewpoint near 50, cool breeze, this is what fall in Florida is all about.  And I received 3.39" of rain a couple days ago!

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

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Thurs night through Fri noon we got 4" of rain, more than Nov. average in 12-14 hours. Today was lovely - 53/71F

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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Nice cool weather the past few days after 1.5" of much needed rain.  The garden looks great and the sensitive palms don't look bothered by a low of 48F and 50F a couple days ago.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Over 5-1/2" on Thursday Dec. 3 while we were out of town. That's over 2x the average for the whole month of 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 has been incredibly dry here in West Pasco since early October. I believe it has rained three times, and none exceeded half inch. The last rain was before Thanksgiving. Warm days and pleasant nights have been great, but El Nino's anticipated wetness has been a bust. We need some rain!

  • Upvote 1

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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9 hours ago, gsytch said:

It has been incredibly dry here in West Pasco since early October. I believe it has rained three times, and none exceeded half inch. The last rain was before Thanksgiving. Warm days and pleasant nights have been great, but El Nino's anticipated wetness has been a bust. We need some rain!

No bust here. Stalled fronts here have made this a very wet December. May even have some heavy crop damage from standing water. Grow has not slowed down in the Garden even though the time release fertilizer has been depleted. 

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

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  • 4 weeks later...

Had some wild weather tonight in the Cape, had a tornado warning and a tornado touched down in the SW Cape. They are also reporting damage on Pine Island. I received 1.65" of rain and strong gusty winds. Looks like El Nino is kicking in.

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

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31 minutes ago, Palmaceae said:

Had some wild weather tonight in the Cape, had a tornado warning and a tornado touched down in the SW Cape. They are also reporting damage on Pine Island. I received 1.65" of rain and strong gusty winds. Looks like El Nino is kicking in.

Interesting, Watched the warned-for storm roll in off the Gulf on Radar and suspected something might have come ashore since each radar update held on to the Tornado warning. Hpoe no one got hurt out on the island.

Had some brief, yet lively storms roll through around 3pm with a hand full of Lightning strikes and heavy rain. Seemed as though most of the storms we had  today got heavier as they hit the coast here. Surprised how dark the skies got each time a rain band blew through.

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Nasty thunderstorm a few hours ago. We got 3" of rain. Were under a tornado warning. Looks like one struck the far southeast corner of the Cape. There is a huge juried art festival going on down there this weekend. We went Sat. Hope the tornado didn't mess with the 300 tent canopies and damage all that expensive art.

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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While not official (as far as i am aware of) NWS is saying the Tornado that rolled through the Cape was an estimated F2. After reading over a favorite weather blog through the day, looks like the worst damage was to some houses with a couple people suffering minor injuries.

Keep an eye on the next coupe storms. GFS seems to direct a lot of energy between Tampa and Naples.

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Here is some drone footage of the damage in Cape Coral. I am about 8 miles from this location. It was an EF-2 tornado and damaged 178 stuctures. There was only about a couple minute warning before the tornado hit this area.

"The tornado had an estimated peak wind of 132 mph and a path length of 3.4 miles, the National Weather Service said. About 178 structures were damaged: One home was destroyed, 14 had major damage and 163 suffered minor damage, the National Weather Service said. There were reports of over 100 power poles down, the agency said.Early estimates indicate repairs could cost up to $6 million, Cape Coral police said."

http://www.winknews.com/2016/01/10/cape-coral-continues-to-recover-from-ef2-tornado/

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

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As mentioned earlier, looks like the next storm system forecast for Thursday/Friday could bring the West coast of FL/ Central FL some serious weather. While both the Euro and GFS still don't completely agree just where the center of the storm will roll in off the Gulf, looks like there is not only an elevated risk of Potential Tornadoes/ strong rotation but the potential of a strong wind event.. in the order of gusts reaching/exceeding 45-50mph at the surface and winds just over our heads reaching or exceeding Hurricane strength. That plus quite a bit of rain. Atm, the storm is anticipated to arrive sometime Thursday night.

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  • 3 weeks later...

The rain here in SW Florida has been unreal this winter. I have received 4" just today which makes the January total 11.30"! And it is supposed to all day tomorrow also.

  • Upvote 1

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

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Got 5.5" yesterday. Including the previous 8" I have received 13.5" of rain this month with more tomorrow.

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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January total for my garden in Cape Coral is 12.68". That is much more than we get in a month during the rainy season!

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

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Another 1.2" yesterday.

Record total for January on the Isabelle Canal: 14.7"

Now that's truly epic rainfall! The whole area had record rainfall this month.

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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