2025/2026 Winter

[kinzyjr]

Most of my family lives in an area that is actually close to USDA 5a and WAY chillier than where @PAPalmtrees stays.  Incredibly, it will probably be warmer there tomorrow morning than it will be in Crestview, FL.

[PAPalmtrees]

5 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Most of my family lives in an area that is actually close to USDA 5a and WAY chillier than where @PAPalmtrees stays.  Incredibly, it will probably be warmer there tomorrow morning than it will be in Crestview, FL.

I could not imagine living in zone 5a way too cold for me lol. Crestview, FL and My location Needmore Pa Both have the same low of 27 tonight never thought I would see that  a day in my life lol

[JohnAndSancho]

I think they've changed our forecast low to 22 and there's already frost on the lawn. I have protected nothing outside, but on the inside ----

 

 

This old guy is putting in work. I'm sure I'll wake up 2 or 3 times and make sure the pilot light doesn't go out. 

[PAPalmtrees]

7 minutes ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I think they've changed our forecast low to 22 and there's already frost on the lawn. I have protected nothing outside, but on the inside ----

 

 

This old guy is putting in work. I'm sure I'll wake up 2 or 3 times and make sure the pilot light doesn't go out. 

 Only 32 here hopefully it  doesn't get any cooler it probably will though 😥

[SeanK]

20 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I think they've changed our forecast low to 22 and there's already frost on the lawn. I have protected nothing outside, but on the inside ----

 

 

This old guy is putting in work. I'm sure I'll wake up 2 or 3 times and make sure the pilot light doesn't go out. 

Thanks, man. I feel better already.

[JohnAndSancho]

1 hour ago, SeanK said:

Thanks, man. I feel better already.

Back to the 80s by this weekend 🙄

[PAPalmtrees]

How cold did everyone get the other night? It got down to about 28 but it was in the low 30s most of the night.

[SeanK]

27° yesterday, 37° this morning.

[SeanK]

Here's a nice setup. Don't know if the assistant is included.

 

[JohnAndSancho]

I don't notice any damage on anything from our dip into the 20s. I don't think the butterfly bush even stopped blooming. I was hoping it'd at least phase the weeds in my bed but nope. 

[JohnAndSancho]

Long term AccuWeather forecast says we're not supposed to get another freeze until 12/27. So my takeaway from that is we're gonna have like Empire Strikes Back weather next week. 

[SeanK]

I notice that my tomato plants are still green. Bananas out my way are only half burned. If it went to 27°F, I expect to see damage more severe.

[JohnAndSancho]

Looks like our butterfly bushes all got toasted but they come back with a vengeance every year. My outdoor palms laughed it off. 

[SeanK]

Thanksgiving morning predicted wakeup temperatures as the first of two cold fronts pushes through Wednesday night. Tough to read numbers, but JAX at 56°F and TAL at 40°F.

The cold drops south, east of the Rockies late Tuesday into Texas, then rolls eastward.

[JohnAndSancho]

Yep. 2nd cold front is here. And what's cool is, it wasn't supposed to drop below about 48 this week so I ordered some dragon fruit cuttings and now we're looking at like 30-32° lows here and probably colder to the west. So good vibes they get here ok. 

 

Anyway the gas heater is fixed and I've duct taped the bejeezus out of all the gaps around the windows. I don't think it'd be safe enough for a chemical weapons attack, but it'll keep the plants warm and toasty despite frost on the roof. 

[PAPalmtrees]

Today, we got our first snow here in Pennsylvania. This is early for us. Normally we get our first Snow in end of December to January. the snow is already starting to melt. It's back up into the 40s. also something cool is I still have snapdragon flowers opening

[JohnAndSancho]

We hovered around 37-40 all day here. I went to physical therapy and had 4 different old ladies yell at me for being out in shorts and slides 😂 The neuropathy sucks because I can either deal with the pain from the cold or I can deal with my toes being smashed together. I think it's supposed to get down to 27 tonight and every time I go to the grow room I make a mental list of the stuff I can safely put back outside and ---- I put none of it back outside. 

[PAPalmtrees]

Well after this little bit of warm weather it looks like the forecast is going to take a turn for the worst. Let's hope this long term forecast will warm up because this is unusually cold

[PAPalmtrees]

Well it looks like they are calling for January in February to be above average. Let's hope these predictions will be true

https://weather.com/forecast/national/news/2025-12-17-january-february-march-temperature-outlook

[JohnAndSancho]

I don't want to jinx this so I'm not gonna say anything, but I will say my Washie volunteers seem to have taken some frost damage and I will not discuss the temperatures we've been having and I won't mention that with exception of maybe 3 or 4 days shorts and t shirts have been perfectly OK attire. I'll just mention the frost damage and the fact that it has had zero impact on these wild mint weeds. 

[PAPalmtrees]

10 hours ago, JohnAndSancho said:

I don't want to jinx this so I'm not gonna say anything, but I will say my Washie volunteers seem to have taken some frost damage and I will not discuss the temperatures we've been having and I won't mention that with exception of maybe 3 or 4 days shorts and t shirts have been perfectly OK attire. I'll just mention the frost damage and the fact that it has had zero impact on these wild mint weeds. 

I kind of feel like this won't be our outlook for the Winter but I really hope it is!

[PAPalmtrees]

https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxmX2OYQUJqcG9WJBN6KoAIwYLX0FHZzBT 

also look what I just posted on YouTube these temperature differences are crazy!!!

[MarcusH]

1 hour ago, PAPalmtrees said:

I kind of feel like this won't be our outlook for the Winter but I really hope it is!

Every year it's the same thing.  Someone's going to get hit . 

I want to keep my faith and hope for a mild winter,  I think we all deserve it after a few years of cold winters. We shall see. Fingers crossed.  

[PAPalmtrees]

1 hour ago, MarcusH said:

Every year it's the same thing.  Someone's going to get hit . 

I want to keep my faith and hope for a mild winter,  I think we all deserve it after a few years of cold winters. We shall see. Fingers crossed.  

I agree 

[JohnAndSancho]

It's been in the 70s for a few weeks now. 

 

WELP. 

 

As far out as the AccuWeather forecast goes, we have lows in the 20s and 30s now, we got over 5" of rain, 2 days in a row I got woke up to tornado warnings, so that's cool. And of course this happens when I want to ship some tropicals across the country. 😑

[OutpostPalms]

Unless there’s some major Arctic blast in February it’s looking like a 9B winter for me but the frosts came early and more frequent this year. 
 

Last year 7 frosts. First frost January 8th. Coldest night 15F. 
This year 5 frosts so far. First frost November 11th. Coldest night 26F. 

[PAPalmtrees]

looks like we're having our first polar vortex of 2026 Let's hope the weather will mild up after it. Let's hope for a mild February us in the Mid Atlantic it has not been a mild winter

[kinzyjr]

Grab the hot cocoa and marshmallows!

[PAPalmtrees]

11 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

Grab the hot cocoa and marshmallows!

Ya😭 Let's hope it's not long

[PAPalmtrees]

I don't think I ever remember temperatures like this,  it gets cold   and then warms up a little bit and then really cold again. This winter has been crazy I keep saying this but let's hope for a mild February.

[80s Kid]

9 hours ago, PAPalmtrees said:

I don't think I ever remember temperatures like this,  it gets cold   and then warms up a little bit and then really cold again. This winter has been crazy I keep saying this but let's hope for a mild February.

I believe it was the 2017-18 winter that was the worst I ever experienced when I still lived in southeast PA. It never dropped below zero but it seemed like weeks went by where the temp never went above freezing. It was a small miracle the pipes in my house never burst (woke up to ice chips in one of the toilets and faucets didn't work). 

That winter along with the ridiculous amounts of rain we had around that time are what planted the seed for my eventual move to the southwest. Yes, it gets stupid hot here in the summer but it's still worth it just so I can avoid what you just posted. 

I had to leave behind two windmill palms and a takil palm that I planted. The windmills made it through two winters and looked very nice at around 4' tall when I left. The takil made it through three or four winters but was only 2' and would defoliate unless the winter was on the mild side. 

Good luck and hopefully your palms are able to pull through.

[kinzyjr]

19 minutes ago, 80s Kid said:

I believe it was the 2017-18 winter that was the worst I ever experienced when I still lived in southeast PA. It never dropped below zero but it seemed like weeks went by where the temp never went above freezing. It was a small miracle the pipes in my house never burst (woke up to ice chips in one of the toilets and faucets didn't work). 

That winter along with the ridiculous amounts of rain we had around that time are what planted the seed for my eventual move to the southwest. Yes, it gets stupid hot here in the summer but it's still worth it just so I can avoid what you just posted. 

I had to leave behind two windmill palms and a takil palm that I planted. The windmills made it through two winters and looked very nice at around 4' tall when I left. The takil made it through three or four winters but was only 2' and would defoliate unless the winter was on the mild side. 

Good luck and hopefully your palms are able to pull through.

For me, it was the winters from 1993-1996 where we got 4 ft. of snow in one storm and then the ice storm in October 2002.  Friends and family still tell me about the winter weather there.  It is not missed to say the least.

[PAPalmtrees]

24 minutes ago, 80s Kid said:

I believe it was the 2017-18 winter that was the worst I ever experienced when I still lived in southeast PA. It never dropped below zero but it seemed like weeks went by where the temp never went above freezing. It was a small miracle the pipes in my house never burst (woke up to ice chips in one of the toilets and faucets didn't work). 

That winter along with the ridiculous amounts of rain we had around that time are what planted the seed for my eventual move to the southwest. Yes, it gets stupid hot here in the summer but it's still worth it just so I can avoid what you just posted. 

I had to leave behind two windmill palms and a takil palm that I planted. The windmills made it through two winters and looked very nice at around 4' tall when I left. The takil made it through three or four winters but was only 2' and would defoliate unless the winter was on the mild side. 

Good luck and hopefully your palms are able to pull through.

I didn't grow any palms in 2018 but I do remember that winter was really cold I remember We got a lot of snow in late March which is really weird for us. The forecast has changed a little bit so I'm hoping everything will be ok

[PAPalmtrees]

6 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

For me, it was the winters from 1993-1996 where we got 4 ft. of snow in one storm and then the ice storm in October 2002.  Friends and family still tell me about the winter weather there.  It is not missed to say the least.

I remember in 2014 or 2015 We got 2 feet of snow here which is crazy

[kinzyjr]

3 minutes ago, PAPalmtrees said:

I remember in 2014 or 2015 We got 2 feet of snow here which is crazy

My running joke with my friends down your way was whatever you got in inches we got in feet.  It wasn't quite that bad, but a few friends from down that way decided to try paying a visit during the winter.  They only had a few inches of snow, but we had two feet where I stayed.

[PAPalmtrees]

Also I've noticed a lot of other places are being hit with this same kind of cold like Cincinnati and St Louis But a lot worse

 

St Louis

Cincinnati

[PAPalmtrees]

1 minute ago, kinzyjr said:

My running joke with my friends down your way was whatever you got in inches we got in feet.  It wasn't quite that bad, but a few friends from down that way decided to try paying a visit during the winter.  They only had a few inches of snow, but we had two feet where I stayed.

 

3 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

My running joke with my friends down your way was whatever you got in inches we got in feet.  It wasn't quite that bad, but a few friends from down that way decided to try paying a visit during the winter.  They only had a few inches of snow, but we had two feet where I stayed.

That's pretty funny lol. Didn't you say your family's from the Bedford/everett area if I'm correct?

[kinzyjr]

5 minutes ago, PAPalmtrees said:

That's pretty funny lol. Didn't you say your family's from the Bedford/everett area if I'm correct?

I spent a lot of time in that area since we had a place on the Juniata, but my permanent home was closer to Flight 93 up past Bald Knob Summit on 30.  Even going from the house to the Juniata, there was a very noticeable difference in climate.

[80s Kid]

23 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

For me, it was the winters from 1993-1996 where we got 4 ft. of snow in one storm and then the ice storm in October 2002.  Friends and family still tell me about the winter weather there.  It is not missed to say the least.

I was still a kid and lived on Long Island, NY during that time but do remember getting some nasty winter storms. As a kid it was great haha but as an adult I'm sure it caused a lot of headaches. 

Also, sometime around 2008-10 I believe we had some epic winter storms around the Philly area. I remember walking along a path and was able to stick my arms and rest them on the snow because it was so high. I don't remember the exact dates but we had two or three major winter storms in a very short period of time.

The Philadelphia area is weird. I experienced at least one winter with over 100" of snow if I'm not mistaken and yet there are other winters where hardly any snow falls (I believe one year had less than 1").

Another problem is the area occasionally gets random warm weather in the 60s and even low 70s in late February which takes a big toll on sensitive vegetation. Everything starts waking up and gets ready to bloom only to get destroyed by another deep freeze.

[PAPalmtrees]

8 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

I spent a lot of time in that area since we had a place on the Juniata, but my permanent home was closer to Flight 93 up past Bald Knob Summit on 30.  Even going from the house to the Juniata, there was a very noticeable difference in climate.

Yeah 100% I can tell a big difference from being up there and then coming down to where I live in needmore Most of the time we're at least five degrees warmer in my area than the  Juniata area. What was the climate like, Like how different was it?