Cold may be coming to Florida

[Chatta]

well crossin my fingers but kinda diggin the indoor jungle... covered what i could.

[kinzyjr]

I moved my thermometer closer to the Beccariophoenix in an open spot on the back side of a bamboo stalk for the night.  Low recorded: 32.4F

Some grabs from WeatherUnderground:

Northwest Lakeland:

Northeast Lakeland:

Southeast Lakeland:

Southwest Lakeland (airport in red):

Weather.com - looks like they got this from the airport.

[Hombre de Palmas]

Here's PSL this cold morning.

[Hombre de Palmas]

Palm Beach

[Xenon]

Some mid-upper 40s popping up in South Daytona/New Smyrna. Warmest on the east coast right now. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Xenon

[Hombre de Palmas]

Miami & Upper Keys no bargain either

[JJPalmer]

[Hombre de Palmas]

6 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Some mid-upper 40s popping up in South Daytona/New Smyrna. Warmest on the east coast right now. 

It looks like the clouds moved in there already. That helped.

[JJPalmer]

Official ASOS system readings

[Xenon]

I think whatever is happening in FL is causing an interesting strong onshore flow in south TX. Warmer near the border than at Veracruz 

[Chatta]

i ended up at 34F thankfully! doesn't look like anything was damaged from the wind. Unless it might take some time. I remember last cold event like this all the tender plants were already burned to a crisp.

[Jimbean]

Lows for Brevard County:  

 

37F Melbourne

38F Patrick AFB 

39F Cocoa Beach

37F Merritt Island

37F Port St. John

35F Titusville  

[Palmaceae]

34.9 here at my place in St. Pete.

[PalmatierMeg]

38.7F on the banks of the Isabelle Canal

[Yunder Wækraus]

What was the low for Pahokee? It was just under 50 at 11:15am.

[JJPalmer]

49 minutes ago, Yunder Wækraus said:

What was the low for Pahokee? It was just under 50 at 11:15am.

There isn't a reporting station (that I could find) from Pahoke, but a PWS in Belle Glade recorded a low of 41.4 as opposed to 32 degrees at the Okeechobee County Airport on the north side of the lake. 

Edited January 22, 2020 by JJPalmer

[Estlander]

Recorded 33F in my yard. I happened to be up this morning, so took quite a few screenshots too. North Florida had some pretty cold temps at some places. As usual, inland panhandle and Spring Hill area on the peninsula were the coldest. Glad to see the beaches up here easily keeping up with central, and even some inland South Florida locations, and staying quite a bit warmer despite much lower temps just a little bit north of here.

So here's what the situation looked like in North FL at 5.40CST/6.40EST

 

[Estlander]

Even though plenty of screenshots have already been posted of the peninsula, I'll add mine as well. Here's the rest of the State at 6.40am

[Matthew92]

This was a weird freeze in that a range of temperatures relatively similar were spread across most of the state. Usually when Orlando gets near freezing, areas like the Panhandle are plunging into the low 20's or teens. 

My supposition that this winter would have to be a little colder than last year's incredibly mild one has come true, but so far most areas still getting off incredibly easy compared to history.

What has been amazing is the very warm period FL has had in January up till now. Back in my hometown in Northwest FL, my parents said trees were trying to leaf out and bloom. They've (the trees) have since got quite a rude reminder that it's still winter though.

41 minutes ago, Estlander said:

Recorded 33F in my yard. I happened to be up this morning, so took quite a few screenshots too. North Florida had some pretty cold temps at some places. As usual, inland panhandle and Spring Hill area on the peninsula were the coldest. Glad to see the beaches up here easily keeping up with central, and even some inland South Florida locations, and staying quite a bit warmer despite much lower temps just a little bit north of here.

So here's what the situation looked like in North FL at 5.40CST/6.40EST

The only areas that were largely spared freezing temps along the coast in NWFL were places close to a body of water to the north (Choctawhatchee bay). I see Destin/San Destin to Santa Rosa beach were just above freezing, but as soon as you move enough to the East and farther south from Choctawhatchee Bay, freezing temps were felt down to the coast as seen near Blue Mountain Beach. Even a weather station within a few blocks of the beach at Santa Rosa Beach recorded 30f. 

Notwithstanding, my jaw drops to see another January in my hometown area with such warm (relatively speaking) 9b-10a temps. Enjoy it while it lasts...

Edited January 22, 2020 by Matthew92

[Estlander]

36 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

The only areas that were largely spared freezing temps along the coast in NWFL were places close to a body of water to the north (Choctawhatchee bay). I see Destin/San Destin to Santa Rosa beach were just above freezing, but as soon as you move enough to the East and farther south from Choctawhatchee Bay, freezing temps were felt down to the coast as seen near Blue Mountain Beach. Even a weather station within a few blocks of the beach at Santa Rosa Beach recorded 30f. 

 

Yes, I've noticed that too with every freeze. No large Bay to the north and you're colder. Areas from the east end of Choctawhatchee Bay (Blue Mountain-Beach-Grayton Beach-Seaside-Rosemary Beach) all the way to the West Bay in Panama City Beach gets 2-3F degrees colder than Destin/Sandestin and east end of Panama City Beach and southern half of Panama City.

 

 

 

 

Edited January 22, 2020 by Estlander

[Yunder Wækraus]

Looks like the Pahokee microclimate holds: only area inland above 40, and on par with Brevard barrier islands, coastal South FL, and the Upper Keys!

[GottmitAlex]

Seems none of you palmtalkers hit 0C/32F. That is wonderful news.

Looks as if this was a freakish event.

 

[Jimbean]

What's interesting is how relatively uniform the cold air was spread from north to south.  Areas around Daytona Beach were actually warmer than areas around Miami.  

[Palmaceae]

28 minutes ago, Jimbean said:

What's interesting is how relatively uniform the cold air was spread from north to south.  Areas around Daytona Beach were actually warmer than areas around Miami.  

The strong wind made the difference for those uniform temps. Would have made a huge difference if there was no wind.

[GottmitAlex]

Yes. When we visited Orlando early this month, we couldn't help but notice: no mountains/hills: it's all flatland, all open range/open season for unexpected cold fronts.

I suppose all of Flahridah is the same. 

 

[NOT A TA]

35 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

no mountains/hills: it's all flatland,

Highest points here other than buildings are I-95 highway overpasses, pretty flat otherwise. Got down to 46-47 reported here by weather.com. Closest WU is up at Palm Beach airport which isn't close enough. Cool brisk day here with wind making it feel cold for S FL.  Didn't stop the ice cream man from rolling through the neighborhood anyway though. Think I'd have taken the day off if I was him.

I did a little prep before the cold came in and spread leaf mulch & cloth over sprouting coconuts, put a couple experiments in the garage and tucked all the coconuts in pots in a wind sheltered area because cool dry wind makes them look lousy. All the rest of germinating community pots, seedlings,  etc. had to just put up with the cool weather. I told them "It'll make ya tougher!".

[GottmitAlex]

5 minutes ago, NOT A TA said:

Highest points here other than buildings are I-95 highway overpasses, pretty flat otherwise. Got down to 46-47 reported here by weather.com. Closest WU is up at Palm Beach airport which isn't close enough. Cool brisk day here with wind making it feel cold for S FL.  Didn't stop the ice cream man from rolling through the neighborhood anyway though. Think I'd have taken the day off if I was him.

I did a little prep before the cold came in and spread leaf mulch & cloth over sprouting coconuts, put a couple experiments in the garage and tucked all the coconuts in pots in a wind sheltered area because cool dry wind makes them look lousy. All the rest of germinating community pots, seedlings,  etc. had to just put up with the cool weather. I told them "It'll make ya tougher!".

Hey! Whatever doesn't kill you...

[kinzyjr]

Nice work on the maps, @Estlander!

I noticed here that the wind was coming from the NNE at points.  Most of the time we get it from the NW or NNW.  I was just happy there was no frost at a very brief drop to 32F.  At least initially, nothing is bronzing up and collapsing, but it will be a few weeks before knowing for sure.  I decided not to cover anything here.  One coconut is heading to the mulch pile from chlorine poisoning regardless, so no since in covering it anyway.  The low only lasted a few hours and we have cloud cover tonight, so probably not even below 50F.

[Bill H2DB]

    There was a Low pressure area off of the East coast of Florida , and the circulation brought some mixing of marine air into the total surface air flow .

  The coastal areas benefited greatly from that .  The graph shown here is from an Ormond Beach PWS.       At 6:30 am the wind direction shifted

to a little more NE , and the air temp. zoomed up .  My location in Holly Hill is in the same relative location as this station , just down to the South by 

about 3 miles .   My low was 36.3 .     Today was a fairly miserable day here , with wind , spitty rain , no sun , and a cold feel . Dew point slowly rising through the day .

[RedRabbit]

Thanks for posting all the data guys!! 
 

Here’s a great graphic I found today you could almost draw a zone map around for west central Florida. 

 

My lows came in at 34.3f here and ~37f in Sarasota.
 

A few observations:

- Longboat Key stayed warmer than Anna Maria Island. That’s not the first time I’ve seen that happen either, Longboat seems to have an underrated microclimate. 
- Anna Maria Island through Lido Key were all pretty close in temperature, then it dropped off a little from Siesta Key south until Lee County. This happens regularly so I’m left to conclude Siesta/Casey Key, Venice, etc just aren’t as warm since they don’t have water to the north. 

- Urban Orlando seems almost the same as non-coastal Tampa. 
- Sanford stayed warmer than Orlando for once, likely courtesy of Lake Monroe.

Edited January 23, 2020 by RedRabbit

[ruskinPalms]

Closest weather underground stations to me got down to about 34F to 35F. My parents live in South Venice and my mom said her tomato plants got fried. 

[Walt]

The wind held up enough all through the night so that frost didn't form. Further, there appears to be no cold dry air desiccation of foliage. The wind was enough to keep the air in one homogeneous mass so that high ground and low ground low temperatures didn't vary much, unlike a radiational cooling event where high ground ares run notable warmer.

I set out three digital thermometer sensors yesterday. I duct taped one sensor to the trunk of my coconut palm about six feet up the trunk (on the north side of the trunk).

This morning I checked my base station and the sensor on my coconut recorded a low of 34.7 degrees F around 7 a.m. (and held that temperature until about 7:30 a.m., then started to rise).

Lake Placid Elementary School STEM station recorded a low of 36 degrees. Sebring FAWN recorded a low of 36 degrees (at 2 meters off the ground). Key West recorded 51 degrees.

The 10-day forecast shows mostly seasonal to slightly above average temperatures. 

[GottmitAlex]

36 minutes ago, Walt said:

 

Wow Walt! You coconut got tall!

 

[palmsOrl]

I ended up protecting some of my stuff a bit last night.  My little Roystonea from Kinzyjr were tucked into a corner by the house and some others were placed up against the southwest corner of the house out of the 20 mph wind.

The second to last photo shows my little red mangrove looking most unhappy and the last photo shows what the ultra tropical jackfruit looks like with 40F and a stiff breeze.  I moved it next to a vent where heat seeps out of the drafty old house but I don't know whether it was already too far gone when the photos were captured or not.

We hit a low of 34F at my location this morning and strangely it was 36F in the normally colder, less urbanized Oviedo where I work.  

[pj_orlando_z9b]

4 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

- Urban Orlando seems almost the same as non-coastal Tampa. 
- Sanford stayed warmer than Orlando for once, likely courtesy of Lake Monroe.

The Orlando UHI is becoming more and more defined as every square inch appears to becoming concrete. Orlando International dipped to 36F, a degree warmer than Ft Myers. The wind was atrocious this morning. I'm very close to the airport but 2 backyard stations also near me hit 34F. I saw my plumeria leaves were all wilted but this is the latest in the season they have held on. The Weather Channel 10 day has most lows in the 50s thru Feb 5 with a few 40s. I always feel comfortable for Central Florida after about Feb 17. 

[RedRabbit]

24 minutes ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

The Orlando UHI is becoming more and more defined as every square inch appears to becoming concrete. Orlando International dipped to 36F, a degree warmer than Ft Myers. The wind was atrocious this morning. I'm very close to the airport but 2 backyard stations also near me hit 34F. I saw my plumeria leaves were all wilted but this is the latest in the season they have held on. The Weather Channel 10 day has most lows in the 50s thru Feb 5 with a few 40s. I always feel comfortable for Central Florida after about Feb 17. 

I checked the stations around Lake Eola and I believe the low there was 33-34f. The Dr. Phillips / Windermere area was actually a few degrees warmer than downtown. I’m curious is it’s routinely that way or if it was just a fluke. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

4 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

I checked the stations around Lake Eola and I believe the low there was 33-34f. The Dr. Phillips / Windermere area was actually a few degrees warmer than downtown. I’m curious is it’s routinely that way or if it was just a fluke. 

Those areas have some beneficial microclimates due to the Butler Chain of Lakes. Same for Belle Isle. Both had some documented z10 palms survive 2010.

[Walt]

11 hours ago, GottmitAlex said:

Wow Walt! You coconut got tall!

 

It hasn't grown all that much. I think it has about 9 feet of trunk.  The good thing is I'm going to have a crop of coconuts this year, as I didn't get any last year.

[Oviedo_z10b_lol]

9 hours ago, palmsOrl said:

We hit a low of 34F at my location this morning and strangely it was 36F in the normally colder, less urbanized Oviedo where I work.  

Whoop whoop Oviedo. Even the meteorologist on Fox35 remarked that it was interesting Seminole County (oviedo/sanford) was a bit warmer than orange co. My backyard registered 37 at 6:30am when I left for work. I blame all the gators in Lake Jessup for creating what should (but never will) be known as the “reptilian heat island effect.” Bless those perfectly evolved murder logs!

i brought one coco in a pot in a corner under the patio. Didn’t cover anything else. 

hopefully we’re out of the winter woods. Let’s get to planting!

[PalmatierMeg]

Low this morning: 54.3F (predicted 53F). A swing of nearly 17 degrees in 24 hours. Current temp is 58F vs 45F at same time yesterday. It's those quick rebounds that saves plants in FL. I hope to go out later today to assess inevitable foliage damage from this cold dip.