My Coldest Morning Here In Corpus Christi

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

I just had my coldest morning here this winter.  It got down to 33.6F in my yard with light frost on the yard, on the car, and on roof tops, but no visible frost on my Coconut Palms and other plants, but I did notice some dark green spotting on the leaves of my Livistona saribus and chinensis.  It supposedly got down to 33F at the airport about 17 miles further inland than me, but they should have been down around 30F or 31F, since my yard is usually 2F to 4F warmer for the overnight low.  This was a weird cold event with far ranging temps.  In George West, north of Corpus Christi, it got down to 28F, but just to the east of there in Beeville, it only got down to 35F.  Also, in the Rio Grande Valley there was quite a temperature spread from 35F at Edinburg, just north of McAllen to 48F in South Padre Island, but just across the causeway in Port Isabel, it was in the upper 30'sF, and inland from there in Brownsville, it was 40F.  Go figure!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

The predicted low at the airport was supposed to be 34F according to one local weatherman, and 35F according to the other local weatherman, so it got a little colder than what they were expecting.  I honestly thought it would because of the very low humidity, clearing skies, and very light NW winds.  I had a total of about 10.25 hours of below 40F temps in my yard last night, but we are supposed to have a nice warm up this afternoon with highs around 70F and up to 80F Sunday and Monday.  I did notice some black leaves on a limb growing along the ground on my Ficus that has the paddle shaped leaves.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

I just checked the temp again at 10:30 am and it had already risen to 52.3F.  I no longer saw the dark green spotting on my Livistonas thought, but did notice some minor frost bite injury on my Maypan and a little on my Jamaican Tall, and a tiny little bit on my Yellow Malayan Dwarf, which I figured would have the most.  Also, I noticed a little bit on my Christmas Palms.

[IHB1979]

That's a bummer. Thankfully the temperature rebounded this morning.

Glad to hear warmer weather is on the way!

[Xenon]

Wow you're right about the temperature difference between Port Isabel and SPI...how strange. It got down to like 29 or 30 degrees here while Houston managed to stay above freezing. Still a mild winter. 

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

On the noon news today, the weatherman said it actually got down to 32F at the airport sometime between 5 and 6:00 am, so I was a little warmer than the airport (my low being 33.6F).  So far, that is the only freeze at the airport, which in a normal winter, probably averages about 5 freezes.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

5 hours ago, IHB1979 said:

That's a bummer. Thankfully the temperature rebounded this morning.

Glad to hear warmer weather is on the way!

Yeah, I am glad it warmed up fast, we actually got up to 74.4F at my place and 72F at the airport.  It warmed up 40F today.  That's Texas weather for you.  A couple of years ago, there was a VERY rare ice storm in the Rio Grande Valley in which my friend's place in La Feria just outside of Harling had about 1/2 an inch of ice in the morning, but the sun came out and apparently they got a westerly wind blowing off the Mexican desert and that afternoon, they warmed up to 70F!  That really is Texas weather for you!

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

1 hour ago, Xenon said:

Wow you're right about the temperature difference between Port Isabel and SPI...how strange. It got down to like 29 or 30 degrees here while Houston managed to stay above freezing. Still a mild winter. 

That really is shocking to have that much of a temp difference from one side of the causeway, the island, to the other side of the causeway, Pt. Isabel, but like you said, still a mild winter.  I would estimate that in a normal winter, my place would probably have 3 frosts, but only one light one this winter, and that was this morning.

[Ed in Houston]

Lowest of the season at my place this morning also. 34F with roof and car frost and also scattered frost on exposed grass. Most of the burbs in Houston had near freezing or just below. Just the main part of the city and on to the S.E. toward Galveston Bay stayed above freezing. Temps in the 70s for the next four days.

Ed in Houston

[IHB1979]

18 hours ago, Mr. Coconut Palm said:

Yeah, I am glad it warmed up fast, we actually got up to 74.4F at my place and 72F at the airport.  It warmed up 40F today.  That's Texas weather for you.  A couple of years ago, there was a VERY rare ice storm in the Rio Grande Valley in which my friend's place in La Feria just outside of Harling had about 1/2 an inch of ice in the morning, but the sun came out and apparently they got a westerly wind blowing off the Mexican desert and that afternoon, they warmed up to 70F!  That really is Texas weather for you!

I'm very familiar with the valley. I had family in Harlingen for years and they are now in Brownsville. When they were in Harlingen I remember my father in-law calling me several times over the last decade or so to tell me they had either snow, flurries or ice. Would usually warm up the next day.  I haven't been down there in probably 5 years but I do miss going down to Boca Chica or spending the day in Nuevo Progreso or Matamoros. Good times.

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

19 hours ago, Ed in Houston said:

Lowest of the season at my place this morning also. 34F with roof and car frost and also scattered frost on exposed grass. Most of the burbs in Houston had near freezing or just below. Just the main part of the city and on to the S.E. toward Galveston Bay stayed above freezing. Temps in the 70s for the next four days.

Ed in Houston

Ed,

 

I am surprised we got as cold down here as you guys up there.  Usually, Corpus Christi is about 6F or 7F warmer for our winter time overnight lows than you guys.  It actually got down to 32F at the airport for the official low, and like I said, 33.6F at my place, and I am only .6 mile from the Laguna Madre.  My place, should actually have been about 8F or 9F warmer than your place.  My normal low for Jan. is about 50F.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

2 hours ago, IHB1979 said:

I'm very familiar with the valley. I had family in Harlingen for years and they are now in Brownsville. When they were in Harlingen I remember my father in-law calling me several times over the last decade or so to tell me they had either snow, flurries or ice. Would usually warm up the next day.  I haven't been down there in probably 5 years but I do miss going down to Boca Chica or spending the day in Nuevo Progreso or Matamoros. Good times.

Bob,

I love the Valley, especially the Brownsville area around the resacas.  I tried to move down there for several years, but never could find any steady work there.  The cost of living is nice compared to other areas, and there are so many tropical trees and plants that can be grown there (almost as much and big as you guys can grow them in your area).

They have had more frozen precip in the last 10 to 12 years than they would normally have 75 to 100 years, like the 2004 Christmas snowstorm.  But like, you said, fortunately, when they do get frozen precip, it warms up in a day or so, sometimes even the next day, like I mentioned.

I love going to Boca Chica to look for coconuts to sprout, since we get 1000's of them washing up on our Texas beaches from Mexico and Cuba each year.  Boca Chica is really neat.  It is the most tropical part of Texas, with a solid 10B Climate almost every winter, and if it got 40" + rainfall instead of the 26" or so that it normally gets, would probably have Coconut Palms growing naturally along the beach there.  There are some nice Red Mangroves among the tens of thousands of Black Mangroves growing along the tidal creeks of the Rio Grande Delta there.  My friend from La Feria and I when we were looking for coconuts and driftwood there in Aug. 2007, saw some Red Mangroves with lots of seeds on them and we saw a flock of what appeared to be Reddish Egrets.  He said when he was younger, he saw a Flamingo there!  There are a lot of tropical birds native to that area and a couple of the tropical cats there too, the jaguarondi, and ocelot.  The big jaguar too, used to be native in South Texas, especially in the Valley, until it was hunted to extinction in Texas.

John

[Mr. Coconut Palm]

It got down to 42.9F at my place this morning and it was in the upper 30'sF at the airport.  It has warmed up nice and it is 74.8F right now, with a high predicted in the upper 70'sF with low 80'sF over the weekend and Monday, before the next front comes through on Tuesday.