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Florida Winter 2024-2025

Followers

March 23, 20251 yr

Forgot to update this, but ended up tanking to 34F with a decent amount of frost on grassy surfaces. Backyard was generally warmer, no frost on the grass out there, which is interesting. Bananas seem to have also been untouched by the frost. Looks like we are in an above average temperature pattern from now thru mid April, so seems like winter is officially over now.

Palms - 1 Bismarckia nobilis, 2 Butia odorata, 1 BxJ, 3 BxS, 1 Chamaerops humilis, 1 Chamaedorea cataractarum, 1 Chamaedorea elegans, 1 Chamaedorea microspadix, 1 Chamaedorea radicalis, 1 Hyophorbe verschaffeltii, 1 Livistona chinensis, 1 Livistona nitida, 1 Phoenix canariensis, 2 Phoenix roebelenii, 1 Ravenea rivularis, 1 Rhapis excelsa, 1 Sabal bermudana, 4 Sabal palmetto, 1 Sabal minor, 3 Syagrus romanzoffiana, 3 Trachycarpus fortunei, 4 Washingtonia robusta
Total: 36

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March 23, 20251 yr

This is a reminder that Florida is a very big state with many climate zones.

What you look for is what is looking

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March 23, 20251 yr

Author

The lowest here came in at 42F for the airport and 44F in the yard.

At this point in the year, the chances of serious cold are diminished, but not impossible. The March 1980 freeze dropped temperatures into the mid-20s for most of the area around Lakeland. The March 1993 cold snap took the temperature here down to 33F, with points further north reaching freezing or even into the 20s.

April can even bring some nasty surprises, with 1944, 1950, and 1962 bringing some 30s and frost to various areas If you don't like the weather in Florida, wait five minutes and it will change.

Lakeland, FL: USDA Zone 2023: 10a 2012: 9b 1990: 9a | Record Low: 20F/-6.67C (Jan. 1985, Dec.1962)

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10 months later...

February 1Feb 1

While we bundle up for the next two cold nights, with flurries coming down in the Panhandle, I thought I’d throw us back to Florida State University (Tallahassee) from this time last January.

It was the most surreal, fever dream-like couple of days in the 8 years I’ve lived in North Florida, but thankfully I had my snow gear from a trip to Appalachia a few weeks earlier.

I wish I had kept more accurate records of cold damage to marginal species around here (as I had done in 2022/3 after a dry trip to 19F at TLH), but in my honest opinion, the snow acted as an insulator and the damage was not as bad as I had expected. TLH weather station bottomed out at 22F on the 23rd.