Lafayette, Louisiana breaks 1899 record by 2 degrees. All time record low temperature.

[Sabal_Louisiana]

A hard to believe temperature of 4 degrees F was reached at the Airport location this Wednesday morning. It dropped to 6 degrees in the city of Lafayette during the historic Arctic outbreak of 1899. An absolute minimum temperature record that stood for over 125 years was shattered today.

[Jimbean]

That event looked bad for your state.  One for the history books.  The good news is that now you will have a much better idea about what can grow where. 

[RedRabbit]

Even Venice froze out in the gulf, which I think is a legit 10a. 
 

[Chester B]

Wow.  That's terrible.

[kinzyjr]

Morbid news from our palm-growing perspective, but thank you for sharing this @Sabal_Louisiana.

[Las Palmas Norte]

In a week or two it could be 80°F there.

[_nevi]

I hate that this happened. I truly do.

Especially that New Iberia nearby recorded 2°F.  That's going to be lots of damage/death to the stuff at Avery Island's  "Jungle Gardens."

[Sabal_Louisiana]

Las Palmas Norte replied:

In a week or two it could be 80°F there.

It always does that. After we get @#!^ed , it's all hunky dory again. If we could take out the 5 coldest days of the year, we could practically grow mangoes. It's like a cruel joke.  An early French explorer wrote about it over 200 years ago. He said the winters in the colony are by European standards scarcely noticed but it is an illusion because on occasion it is visited by surprising intense cold that threaten's a man's livestock.

nevi replied:

Especially that New Iberia nearby recorded 2°F.  That's going to be lots of damage/death to the stuff at Avery Island's  "Jungle Gardens."

Maybe the raised elevation there might help some? Just 20 miles south of New Iberia, at Cypremort Point, on Atchafalaya Bay, it got no lower than 20F. Most of the palms at Avery Island are cold hardy. They had a big fishtail palm but it got fried in 2021. I'm not sure if it came back. There's a Nannorrhops that should survive. A lot of the other subtropical vegatation might be hurt pretty bad though. Not looking good.

[KsLouisiana]

15 hours ago, Sabal_Louisiana said:

Las Palmas Norte replied:

In a week or two it could be 80°F there.

It always does that. After we get @#!^ed , it's all hunky dory again. If we could take out the 5 coldest days of the year, we could practically grow mangoes. It's like a cruel joke.  An early French explorer wrote about it over 200 years ago. He said the winters in the colony are by European standards scarcely noticed but it is an illusion because on occasion it is visited by surprising intense cold that threaten's a man's livestock.

nevi replied:

Especially that New Iberia nearby recorded 2°F.  That's going to be lots of damage/death to the stuff at Avery Island's  "Jungle Gardens."

Maybe the raised elevation there might help some? Just 20 miles south of New Iberia, at Cypremort Point, on Atchafalaya Bay, it got no lower than 20F. Most of the palms at Avery Island are cold hardy. They had a big fishtail palm but it got fried in 2021. I'm not sure if it came back. There's a Nannorrhops that should survive. A lot of the other subtropical vegatation might be hurt pretty bad though. Not looking good.

What do think will happen to mexican fans and all the various types of dates? My area was in the 8°-12° area. Not sure if every 50' robusta is a goner. Some parts of Lake Charles went to 6°. Only for a few hours but damn...

[_nevi]

22 hours ago, Sabal_Louisiana said:

It always does that. After we get @#!^ed , it's all hunky dory again. If we could take out the 5 coldest days of the year, we could practically grow mangoes. It's like a cruel joke.  An early French explorer wrote about it over 200 years ago. He said the winters in the colony are by European standards scarcely noticed but it is an illusion because on occasion it is visited by surprising intense cold that threaten's a man's livestock.

Like, if this thing happened somewhere like Shreveport or Monroe, it'd at least be somewhat believable. 

But all the way down the bayous in South Louisiana? Such a strange turn of events.

[JeskiM]

Have the Live Oaks defoliated yet ?

That happened in CenTX after the 2021 event. Mine were bare for a several weeks and right after they leaved out was the largest explosion of caterpillars I've ever seen....they got defoliated again. It went below zero at my house in that event. Bark split on several of my trees all on the north side of the trunks.

-Matt

[mnorell]

When we moved in 2004 from L.A. to Natchez, Mississippi, which in this recent freeze, ironically, stayed somewhere around 17F while Lafayette (significantly south of Natchez) got hit with a mallet...I was told by locals about the damage that happened in the horrendous 1989 Christmas freeze, where temps in Natchez hit 4F. Multi-hundred-year Live Oak trees lost major limbs at that temperature. So I agree that this isn't just going to be about people planting "out of zone" palms, but that of native plants being really hurt. It's not like these events don't happen every hundred, two hundred years, as it may be, and because of that we know they can recover...but still not something they have completely adapted to with flawless appearance. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, accept the dead plants, and have some fun thinking about the new things you're going to put into your landscape. After the emotional drain of losing so much, the main PITA is just having to deal with removing all of the mature palms etc. that were killed outright. It goes without saying that it can be a real kick in the wallet. But still, nothing can take away the head-scratching when you realize that Minneapolis stayed in the mid-teens that night as well, while extreme southern Louisiana flirted with the 0F mark. Crazy!

[_nevi]

9 hours ago, JeskiM said:

Have the Live Oaks defoliated yet ?

That happened in CenTX after the 2021 event. Mine were bare for a several weeks and right after they leaved out was the largest explosion of caterpillars I've ever seen....they got defoliated again. It went below zero at my house in that event. Bark split on several of my trees all on the north side of the trunks.

-Matt

I think the live oaks in Central Texas are even a hardier subspecies (fusiformis) than the traditional Southern live oak (virginiana). So there's definitely going to be noticable defoliation and bark splitting in those hard hit areas of Louisiana.

[_nevi]

7 hours ago, mnorell said:

When we moved in 2004 from L.A. to Natchez, Mississippi, which in this recent freeze, ironically, stayed somewhere around 17F while Lafayette (significantly south of Natchez) got hit with a mallet...I was told by locals about the damage that happened in the horrendous 1989 Christmas freeze, where temps in Natchez hit 4F. Multi-hundred-year Live Oak trees lost major limbs at that temperature. So I agree that this isn't just going to be about people planting "out of zone" palms, but that of native plants being really hurt. It's not like these events don't happen every hundred, two hundred years, as it may be, and because of that we know they can recover...but still not something they have completely adapted to with flawless appearance. Sometimes you just have to roll with the punches, accept the dead plants, and have some fun thinking about the new things you're going to put into your landscape. After the emotional drain of losing so much, the main PITA is just having to deal with removing all of the mature palms etc. that were killed outright. It goes without saying that it can be a real kick in the wallet. But still, nothing can take away the head-scratching when you realize that Minneapolis stayed in the mid-teens that night as well, while extreme southern Louisiana flirted with the 0F mark. Crazy!

If there were any differences in duration between the Dec 1989 event to the Jan 2025 event, then that would be relevant to outcomes regarding the live oaks.

As for Minneapolis, they got their sub-zero temps during the initial cold push (earlier week Sunday/Monday). The dry, continental air allowed dewpoints to tank, setting stage for the records in South Louisiana.

 

[JeskiM]

2 hours ago, _nevi said:

I think the live oaks in Central Texas are even a hardier subspecies (fusiformis) than the traditional Southern live oak (virginiana). So there's definitely going to be noticable defoliation and bark splitting in those hard hit areas of Louisiana.

Yes. My area is mostly Q. fusiformis. There are likely some hybrids in landscapes also. Other natives that got severely damaged and some killed here were Sophora secundiflora and Quercus buckleyi. I was shocked by that.

I still have a massive brush pile from all the dead branches etc leftover from the 2021 blizzard/freeze and the 2023 ice storm.

-Matt

[palmnut-fry]

Since these arctic express events keep happening every year, this will effect people's psychology (and pocketbooks) to think twice before planting certain tender plants! I know it has mine!

Almost ordered some Choisya Mex orange bushes but not now😤

Oh well,i guess the climate keeps surprising us year after year!

[Sabal_Louisiana]

As a follow up to the recent cold event, I have been told by a couple of friends in the Lafayette area that even though some of the Pindos got burnt around there, most all of the local Washingtonias have green centers, along with the Sylvesters and Mules.  One even claimed that a well wrapped Queen or two appeared to be hanging on.

This is really surprising when you think about just how cold it got there.

 

[07vette]

On 1/24/2025 at 10:33 PM, JeskiM said:

Have the Live Oaks defoliated yet ?

That happened in CenTX after the 2021 event. Mine were bare for a several weeks and right after they leaved out was the largest explosion of caterpillars I've ever seen....they got defoliated again. It went below zero at my house in that event. Bark split on several of my trees all on the north side of the trunks.

-Matt

It hit -6 in my town during 2021 and all of the live oaks lost all their leaves. Some got damaged at the top of the branches that took several years to grow back. We also sadly lost almost every palm including some of the hardiest of sabal palms.