Southern Hemisphere Growing Season 2025/26

[Jonathan]

12 hours ago, Tyrone said:

The same day was forecast to be about 36-38C down here so as we left 2 days earlier I covered vulnerable stuff with shade cloth and made sure they were juiced up. The actual temp that day was a humid 30.6C. I think that was a much better temp.  Low to high twenties this week. Bewdiful. 

Same here, the mid 20's perfect zone!

[Bennz]

115mm rain last night, I like summer rain. Back to 28c tomorrow so it'll probably dry up pretty quickly.

[Jonathan]

The sweet spot...a bit cool tomorrow but then perfect.

[Tyrone]

The weather has been great lately. Forecast is 30C tomorrow. However it’s been mid to high twenties every day. Mid to high teens at night. No rain forecast though, but then there’s no low humidity either. Dewpoints in the mid to high teens. 

[tropicbreeze]

December had turned out to be a bit of a mixed month. The first three weeks were relatively dry. However, a monsoon trough formed earlier than previously forecast and brought a lot of rain in the last week of the month. Amazingly enough, the rain stopped for the whole of Christmas Day but at night the skies opened up again. There was 289.6mm rain for the month mostly at the end, but still about 10% below average.  The weak monsoon trough dissipated by the end of the month. A lot of cloud cover kept temperatures down, av. min. 25.1C, av. max. 33.9C.

During the month Severe Tropical Cyclone Grant formed in the Indian Ocean and crossed the coast as a Cat 3 at the northern end of the Dampier Peninsula. The models aren't predicting anything until about a fortnight when an inland tropic low may cross the coast heading out to sea near Port Hedland and intensify. BoM has another monsoon trough forming to the east of us later in the week. 

[Jonathan]

20 hours ago, tropicbreeze said:

December had turned out to be a bit of a mixed month. The first three weeks were relatively dry. However, a monsoon trough formed earlier than previously forecast and brought a lot of rain in the last week of the month. Amazingly enough, the rain stopped for the whole of Christmas Day but at night the skies opened up again. There was 289.6mm rain for the month mostly at the end, but still about 10% below average.  The weak monsoon trough dissipated by the end of the month. A lot of cloud cover kept temperatures down, av. min. 25.1C, av. max. 33.9C.

During the month Severe Tropical Cyclone Grant formed in the Indian Ocean and crossed the coast as a Cat 3 at the northern end of the Dampier Peninsula. The models aren't predicting anything until about a fortnight when an inland tropic low may cross the coast heading out to sea near Port Hedland and intensify. BoM has another monsoon trough forming to the east of us later in the week. 

Your minimums are a pretty good match for our maximums this week, pretty brutal up there!

[tim_brissy_13]

We’ve been having really nice growing weather lately with an average max of 25C so far in January but that’s about to change. 41C forecast tomorrow, then 30C and 37C. May just sit and mist the Lepidorrachis the next few days!

[tim_brissy_13]

Got to 42.4C today! Kept everything moist so I’m confident all my palms are ok. The Cyathea tree ferns on the other hand instantly sulk at these kind of temperatures. 

[Jonathan]

8 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Got to 42.4C today! Kept everything moist so I’m confident all my palms are ok. The Cyathea tree ferns on the other hand instantly sulk at these kind of temperatures. 

Ouch  too hot Tim. Hope everything pulls through OK. 

Was a lovely 25 here yesterday.

[Tyrone]

On 1/7/2026 at 7:16 PM, tim_brissy_13 said:

Got to 42.4C today! Kept everything moist so I’m confident all my palms are ok. The Cyathea tree ferns on the other hand instantly sulk at these kind of temperatures. 

Was wondering how you guys were going over there. That sort of heat nobody needs unless you’re growing Medemia argun. 

So far it’s been a mild summer for us. Nothing over 38.2 and mid 20s mostly. I think we’ve had 3 days over 30C and that’s it. A cold front came through yesterday and blew like mad for a while and we got a few hours of light rain on sundown. Min was 16C and going for a max of 20C then back to mid 20s after that. 

[tim_brissy_13]

1 hour ago, Tyrone said:

Was wondering how you guys were going over there. That sort of heat nobody needs unless you’re growing Medemia argun. 

So far it’s been a mild summer for us. Nothing over 38.2 and mid 20s mostly. I think we’ve had 3 days over 30C and that’s it. A cold front came through yesterday and blew like mad for a while and we got a few hours of light rain on sundown. Min was 16C and going for a max of 20C then back to mid 20s after that. 

Yeah I’m sure my Hyphaene petersiana appreciates it having barely survived the long winter but that’s about it. Today we’ve just hit 40C at midday with 60km/h Northerlies and still climbing quickly. Looks like we’ll be getting up around 42-43C again. So far no obvious damage to any palms, but Cyatheas are crispy and some bromeliads are bleached. 

[Tyrone]

3 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

Yeah I’m sure my Hyphaene petersiana appreciates it having barely survived the long winter but that’s about it. Today we’ve just hit 40C at midday with 60km/h Northerlies and still climbing quickly. Looks like we’ll be getting up around 42-43C again. So far no obvious damage to any palms, but Cyatheas are crispy and some bromeliads are bleached. 

40C plus temps and high winds are the worst combination. Your Hyphaene will love it. Cyatheas rebound well provided they get cooler weather and moisture, moisture, moisture.

Hopefully you’ll get cooler weather soon. 

It's hit 19C here today and is trying to drizzle. Only 3C difference between min and max. What a contrast of weather between east and west. 

[tim_brissy_13]

39 minutes ago, Tyrone said:

40C plus temps and high winds are the worst combination. Your Hyphaene will love it. Cyatheas rebound well provided they get cooler weather and moisture, moisture, moisture.

Hopefully you’ll get cooler weather soon. 

It's hit 19C here today and is trying to drizzle. Only 3C difference between min and max. What a contrast of weather between east and west. 

44.0C now with 74km/h winds. This is about as bad as it gets. A recently opened Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus frond has been completely desiccated. My big Hedyscepe is about to open a frond but hasn’t quite yet which I’m grateful for because I suspect the freshly exposed leaf surfaces would be toast. 

[cbmnz]

4 hours ago, tim_brissy_13 said:

44.0C now with 74km/h winds. This is about as bad as it gets. A recently opened Chrysalidocarpus lanceolatus frond has been completely desiccated. My big Hedyscepe is about to open a frond but hasn’t quite yet which I’m grateful for because I suspect the freshly exposed leaf surfaces would be toast. 

Sorry to see/hear - hard to imagine that type of weather, must be like a hair dryer at arm's length. Some of that heat coming across this weekend, this is not for where I am, this Hastings just inland in the Hawkes Bay region, have not seen a forecast like this for any NZ location for quite a while.  Thanks to the flow being NW the relative proximity of the Tasman sea should keep my location/garden under 30 thankfully. 

[Bennz]

12 hours ago, cbmnz said:

Sorry to see/hear - hard to imagine that type of weather, must be like a hair dryer at arm's length. Some of that heat coming across this weekend, this is not for where I am, this Hastings just inland in the Hawkes Bay region, have not seen a forecast like this for any NZ location for quite a while.  Thanks to the flow being NW the relative proximity of the Tasman sea should keep my location/garden under 30 thankfully. 

I'm only half an hour drive from Hastings, but my expected high is a mere 36C tomorrow!