Southern Hemisphere Winter 25

[cbmnz]

Almost that time again.

A few very clear and calm nights coming up,  no frost risk but if this was in 3 weeks time....

Palms had a great growing season,  really getting sizeable now.  Got less protection to do this winter as most palms are getting too big to protect now.

Oldest current stalk of banana has just popped out the flower head now - not the best time, see what happens.  Last year I was able to leave the bunch on right through winter, brief dips to -2C burnt leaves but didn't affect the bunch.
 

[Tyrone]

Yes winter is just around the corner. Have had the fire going on and off in the house for a few weeks. We get some warm weather, then cool, then back to warm. The last few days have managed to crack the 20C zone but today is forecast 26, then tomorrow 28C then back to low to mid twenties which is actually quite mild for my area. The days are way short now. 5.15pm and the sun has set. No time to do much after work. 
Looking at sea surface temps and in the Australian zone they’re higher than average everywhere. Also the run up to winter has been very mild. Could we manage another mild frost free winter this year. I hope so. 
In regards to bananas I’ve had two large bunches ripen up over summer. The last one was a flower that formed and opened in July mid winter. It opened up on a 3C night which surprised me. I’ve got my first Goldfinger banana flowering now. I planted it about 18months ago as a 5L container and it’s now got a main stem 30cm across at the base and roughly 5m tall. Will see how it goes.

[cbmnz]

10 hours ago, Tyrone said:

Looking at sea surface temps and in the Australian zone they’re higher than average everywhere. 

 

Hmm, same here. According to this site, about the 18/19 April something caused them to rise considerably. There was a visit from an extratropical cyclone at that time, but they normally stir up the water column and bring SST down.

https://www.moanaproject.org/marine-heatwave-forecast

Goldfinger bananas look like they are a little larger than the lady finger I grow here. 

[Tyrone]

Was just reading yesterday (I wish I could find the article) that sea surface temps are very high in the Australia region-(this would include NZ too) that they felt winter would be a mild event and short again this year and possibly the new normal. It has other dire consequences like reduced rainfall in southern parts of Australia. However with increased sst you get higher humidity so when the atmosphere lines up for wet events you get heavier rainfall than usual. That seems to be already happening in my area. 130mm in 2hrs back in mid March. It was possibly the warmest and most humid growing season ever. We didn’t get one low humidity event at all. 

Those gold fingers look like a big banana. I’m growing 9 different banana types now. Will see how they compare over time.

Had a cool night with a min of 6.7C. Forecast was for 12C. Not real close. Forecast is for 28C then back to 22,23 for the rest of the week. 
 

BTW that Moana project is really detailed. New Zealanders really take their weather seriously. Some good resources over there. 

[cbmnz]

See you have a warm patch coming around the point. Last year had quite a cool March and April, made me think winter could be harsh but it did not come to anything. This year much warmer so far, might be giving a false sense of security, we'll see. 

[Tyrone]

Well it feels like we are descending on the on ramp into winter. Lots of single digit nights interspersed with the odd night in double digits when the clouds act like blankets at night. Had a 15C min on Monday morning which was warm. Days in the low twenties but under cloud high teens. Lots of high pressure zones and virtually zero rain. I think cold fronts may be few and far between this winter. Got some good sun for the next few days and max of 25C on Sunday. With all the high pressure zones hanging around it’s a very calm time of year lacking strong winds, just chilly at night. 

[tim_brissy_13]

The last 3 mornings in a row have been -0.4C, 1.1C and 0.9C. That’s close to as bad a 3 night stretch as we get any winter let alone in May before it has begun. 

[cbmnz]

5 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

The last 3 mornings in a row have been -0.4C, 1.1C and 0.9C. That’s close to as bad a 3 night stretch as we get any winter let alone in May before it has begun. 

Surprised to hear that.  Was going to say no obvious incursion of cold Southerly air but if I wind back on Earth Null-school I see there was, starting last Saturday. 

Some risk of  the first dip below 0 here tonight, if not, will make it into June with no freeze.  Hoping the forecast still being 1C, and a 19C high I recorded this afternoon will prevent any damage. 

The A. Alexandre and the leaves of the Bananas will be the first to show any effect of the cold.  

[Tyrone]

9 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

The last 3 mornings in a row have been -0.4C, 1.1C and 0.9C. That’s close to as bad a 3 night stretch as we get any winter let alone in May before it has begun. 

That is terrifying for May. Hopefully some cloud cover at night will come your way. 

[tim_brissy_13]

4 hours ago, Tyrone said:

That is terrifying for May. Hopefully some cloud cover at night will come your way. 

Clear skies again this morning down to 4C and looks similar tomorrow morning. Then we get some cloud cover and showers roll through with minimums back up around 10C for a while. 

[Tyrone]

2 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Clear skies again this morning down to 4C and looks similar tomorrow morning. Then we get some cloud cover and showers roll through with minimums back up around 10C for a while. 

Those high pressure systems are a pain. Clear skies, dead still, perfect set up for a radiative freeze especially if the day hasn’t really had any heat and the daylight hours are short, like now. 
It’s been cold over here with the exact same scenario but thankfully a few degrees warmer. It’s down to 10C by 7pm and then the temp just sinks. Yesterday luckily we only went down to 3C and this morning about the same. Saved by a breeze that just started about 30 minutes ago. However a cold front is coming through tonight with westerly winds and we start getting winter weather with unsettled rain periods, cloud and rain which pumps a bit of heat into the atmosphere plus blankets at night when there’s clouds. The joys of winter.