florida 2025-2026 Florida Winter

January 26

It’s looking brutal for even Miami and Naples. Every run trends colder and colder. I’m actually shocked at how bad the climate in Naples really is. Too many cold outbreaks especially as compared to the East Coast of Florida.

I always kinda wondered why SW Florida just doesn’t look that vibrant as even many places in SoCal, now I understand why. We can throw the hardiness zone map in the garbage already.

January 26

42 minutes ago, MarkC said:

It’s looking brutal for even Miami and Naples. Every run trends colder and colder. I’m actually shocked at how bad the climate in Naples really is. Too many cold outbreaks especially as compared to the East Coast of Florida.

I always kinda wondered why SW Florida just doesn’t look that vibrant as even many places in SoCal, now I understand why. We can throw the hardiness zone map in the garbage already.

It looks like we are all in the same boat more or less on this one. The only difference is our place in the boat. I still hold out hope that future runs will moderate the present forecast, but the timeframe is not our friend.

But yes, the USDA and Köppen maps didn't age well.

January 26

Seems like california is the best place to grow palms outside of the keys.

January 26

Here is a long range record of the Temps. in Tampa .

Here is a link to this data page : Note that you can choose other locations in the Tampa forecast area .

https://www.weather.gov/tbw/tampabayoriginalclimatepage

January 26

8 minutes ago, Bill H2DB said:

Here is a long range record of the Temps. in Tampa .

Here is a link to this data page : Note that you can choose other locations in the Tampa forecast area .

https://www.weather.gov/tbw/tampabayoriginalclimatepage

Yeah florida is a lie sold to people where the weather just sucks worse.

January 26

21 minutes ago, HudsonBill said:

Seems like california is the best place to grow palms outside of the keys.

I believe that to be the case, although more recently I’m starting to see more palm decline in CA than in the past, but nothing like what I see in Florida.

Very few exotic palms are able to make it to maturity. Basically most of what we see has to be brought in as adult specimens and even so, outside the coasts, many of them succumb to all sorts of pestilences.

January 26

27 degrees this morning was a pleasant surprise after the forecast of 24. Still saying 22 for tonight but until then my 9B winter lives on for one more day.

Also maybe there was something to those apocalyptic cold forecasts my phone was giving me yesterday. I really hope not.

January 26

44 minutes ago, HudsonBill said:

Seems like california is the best place to grow palms outside of the keys.

In terms of the broadest spectrum of palms, Southern Florida and Southern California probably are the best. The problem with CA is you don't have the necessary heat to grow coconut palms. Not sure if other species have this issue.

I will say AZ (low desert climate areas) is interesting. You can't grow a lot of varieties due do the heat/sun/soil, however, you can grow quite a few cold sensitive species if you know what you're doing. Mexican/California fan palms grow like weeds here as do date palms. Dateland, AZ is literally a forest of date palms in the middle of the desert. Mediterranean fan palms do well as do queen palms and bismark palms. Also, certain microclimates do have the potential for coconut palms (and they don't involve having waterfront property). Pygmy date palms have some issues but you do see a bunch of them around.

There are other varieties people grow that I'm sure I'm missing but the point is there are a handful of varieties that do very well in the desert and cold is much less of a concern.

January 26

Check the weather records for CA first before you move. The 2007 and 1990 cold snaps wiped out a lot of stuff. Plus, make sure you're not in a valley. There were low areas outside San Diego that went into the teens.

January 26

27F this morning.

Seeing everything above, I think yall wouldn't survive in the Panhandle. Just sayin. If you really want to grow palms in a cold free environment start looking at Puerto Rico.

January 26

I was a small child when we hit 20 in Lompc (VAFB) in 1990. It killed our rabbit that we had in the garage protected because we should never have gotten that cold and didn't expect it. Not in the valley either, that was 500 feet up and 5 miles inland. I still remember our poor rabbit and I was 3, almost 4 at the time. Hawaii and PR/the Caribbean, American Samoa, Guam, there are a few places and all have a tradeoff.

January 26

Southeast Florida is the best place to grow palms and to grow the most variety of palms in the continental US period. It's not a close debate at all. SoCal couldn't touch Dade or Broward county in a million years unless you want to grow some specific cool climate adapted palms.

I was in Orlando in December and it seemed like someone was distributing free Adonidia. Adonidia spammed everywhere haha. Hopefully it doesn't get too cold considering the recent popular landscaping choices.

January 26

12 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Southeast Florida is the best place to grow palms and to grow the most variety of palms in the continental US period. It's not a close debate at all. SoCal couldn't touch Dade or Broward county in a million years unless you want to grow some specific cool climate adapted palms.

I was in Orlando in December and it seemed like someone was distributing free Adonidia. Adonidia spammed everywhere haha. Hopefully it doesn't get too cold considering the recent popular landscaping choices.

They sell them here in solid zone 9 areas of Florida too, and I'm sure by next week there will be a lot of returns to the big box stores. Every new arrival becomes obsessed with them, and tries to rip out the appropriate trees to plant them. My job next month will be a lot of fun.

January 26

There's a system on the horizon for next week that looks to bring a fair share of cold temperatures to the east coast of Florida.

I believe the gulf coast got hit pretty good last year, it looks like it will be the east coast's turn this year.

January 26

1 hour ago, kinzyjr said:

Check the weather records for CA first before you move. The 2007 and 1990 cold snaps wiped out a lot of stuff. Plus, make sure you're not in a valley. There were low areas outside San Diego that went into the teens.

I'm staying here but I will 100 percent be retiring to key west or a coastal island.

January 26

January 26

22 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Southeast Florida is the best place to grow palms and to grow the most variety of palms in the continental US period. It's not a close debate at all. SoCal couldn't touch Dade or Broward county in a million years unless you want to grow some specific cool climate adapted palms.

I was in Orlando in December and it seemed like someone was distributing free Adonidia. Adonidia spammed everywhere haha. Hopefully it doesn't get too cold considering the recent popular landscaping choices.

They are everywhere here. I had a double i dig out of a customers yard and put in mine. 1 died the other lived and has been recovering after 6 hours below freezing at 27 degrees. Idc if those die lol. I've seen them take 29 to 32 no problem though in neighborhoods around me.

January 26

55 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Check the weather records for CA first before you move. The 2007 and 1990 cold snaps wiped out a lot of stuff. Plus, make sure you're not in a valley. There were low areas outside San Diego that went into the teens.

Growing up out there, vs. speculating on it via questionable record keeping, Yes, 1990 was cold, but definitely didn't " wipe out " all the interesting " tender" palms / other stuff that was ..and still is.. growing where i grew up ..inc. numerous Kings, White and Orange Bird of Paradise, Philodendron, Floss Silk tree, etc..

Remember too that many spots that were once undeveloped, pasture and ag. fields back in the late 80s / early 90s are now filled to the gills with concrete and buildings so, it will be much harder for ..areas in my own neighborhood that bottomed out the upper teens in the 90 freeze for example, to see the same deg. of cold again should a similar event occur there.

Could it happen again? of course ..but i would be shocked to see the same readings.. Couple mornings waking up to lows in the 28-30F range? ..happens every few years.. Doesn't seem to bother anything.

Even most of the " rural " spots south of San Jose, that can dip into the 20s on a few mornings every few winters, are warmer than way back then.

Same idea across much of S.Cal..

2007 wasn't much different.. and there is plenty of stuff planted at that time that shrugged off that event.

MOO, damage seen during the significant frost / freeze events while living in FL seemed much more apparent / extensive than i can remember seeing after any extended cold event i'd experienced back home in San Jose..

Outside of the Central Valley, 99.8% of folks won't want to live in any of the far flung valleys out there that can still dip below 25F -with regularity- these days..

January 26

Preliminary temps in Texas were not quite as bad in spots so I'm hopeful that will translate here. Maybe that bodes well for the next weekend too, but I won't assume that. More supplies came in today for protection that I will do tonight. Trying to keep winds down in the plants, and frost the next few days after. last year stuff under canopy was hit hard so I'll be prepared for all of them this time.

January 26

57 minutes ago, flplantguy said:

Preliminary temps in Texas were not quite as bad in spots so I'm hopeful that will translate here. Maybe that bodes well for the next weekend too, but I won't assume that. More supplies came in today for protection that I will do tonight. Trying to keep winds down in the plants, and frost the next few days after. last year stuff under canopy was hit hard so I'll be prepared for all of them

I just got back from harbor freiggt and home depot. Building more enclosures for other stuff that I have never protected before. Mainly just feuit trees.

January 26

These are def bad news, and we are not even in February yet... really hope Feb just neutralizes and gives everyone a rest from this demonic winter we have had.

January 26

7 minutes ago, Ivanos1982 said:

These are def bad news, and we are not even in February yet... really hope Feb just neutralizes and gives everyone a rest from this demonic winter we have had.

Considering this cold inundation got off to an early start before even the middle of November. December didn’t even hit and we already had two nights in the 40’s. Absolutely nothing tropical about that.

I was planning on moving from Naples to the East Coast of FL, more so after this winter. I don’t even think Naples beat Port St Lucie tempwise. No wonder they are so reluctant to plant anything other than sabal, royals and foxtails.

January 26

I'd say their "new" USDA Zone Map is about to be proven hilariously wrong. When it came out I wondered if anyone actually lived in the places where they arbitrarily drew the lines. In the past I've always posted that I live in a "9B/9A borderline" area. The current forecasting is for 2 nights at 27 at the airport, meaning probably 24-26ish for me:

image.png.ed7b296f574ef362c266c178e1d89ea8.png

The only advantage (if you can call it one) is that it's supposed to be fairly windy on Saturday night, so less chance of frost. But in reality I'll probably get at least 5 or 6 straight nights of frost and sub-freezing temps. For sure it's the coldest and longest duration forecasted cold front I've seen in my ~25 years in this house. Everything else has been 1-3 days and then it's back to the 70s.

January 26

22 minutes ago, MarkC said:

Considering this cold inundation got off to an early start before even the middle of November. December didn’t even hit and we already had two nights in the 40’s. Absolutely nothing tropical about that.

I was planning on moving from Naples to the East Coast of FL, more so after this winter. I don’t even think Naples beat Port St Lucie tempwise. No wonder they are so reluctant to plant anything other than sabal, royals and foxtails.

I'm worried about next week too, but what exactly are you attempting to grow in Naples that's been hurt or killed by recent cold snaps? I've been in SWFL for over 7 years and only been below 35F in my yard maybe once. I've never lost a palm to cold, including a lot of 10B-11 stuff sitting out unprotected and in pots. Maybe the luck runs out this winter but I don't feel like we have a lot to complain about compared to the rest of the country. Just like anywhere in Florida your distance to water is almost as important as your latitude.

Anyways, nights in the 40s here and there in the past have never been a problem as long as we warm back up. Which is what I was already worried about with this extended stretch. On top of that, as of today the models are for the first time hinting at a real freeze this weekend. Making some preparations today to bring orchids and seedlings inside for the duration.

And yes if nothing else we're about to see Adonidiageddon up and down the peninsula.

January 26

Mainstream outlets are now reporting temps in the mid-30s down this way. That’s enough to cause damage and sometimes rare fatalities to various sensitive bromeliads and crotons I have. Some of the potted ones I have will need to be put under the roof on the porch at least, where it’s noticeably warmer. As always, duration makes all the difference. One cold night is Ok. Three in a row and I’ll see some damage. Highs in the 50s three days in a row and there’s damage too.

Coldest Temps on Record Fort Lauderdale:

Yearly Low Temps for Fort Lauderdale:

January 26

Winds are HOWLING here. Temperature peaking at a balmy 44deg. This arctic front is something else.

January 26

I wanted to see how my yard would do in major events, and I'm getting the gamut for the last 4 winters. Good data at least combined with Dec 2022. Tonight after work will be interesting to see what I can protect with winds. Some models are looking outlandish and I'm hoping the days between change that. Only area to work on is the larger area under canopy, so I'm tempted to leave it but don't think I can make myself.

January 26

16 hours ago, HudsonBill said:

Gfs same day...... they all show it.

And I thought the next palmageddon would occur in California. Not in Florida.

January 26

Damn, just put my plants back out...

January 26

1 hour ago, aabell said:

And yes if nothing else we're about to see Adonidiageddon up and down the peninsula.

I was going to say this is Florida's Palmageddon...but I like Adonidiageddon a lot better!!! :floor2:

January 26

Yikes that's some worrisome wording from National Weather Service in Miami image.png.9eef85383bd8fb5890d11ad6546da780.png

January 26

Ive got all the babies back in the lanai tent . I can keep it 12 degrees above outside temp

I have kept above 32 here so far this season by Fishhawk Ranch in Lithia,FL

On 1/25/2026 at 7:53 PM, kinzyjr said:

It was perfect tour weather for @PalmBossTampa and @Midnight Gardener over the weekend. The high at the airport today was 88F, breaking the old record by 3^oF. Now we get about two weeks of garbage weather. Since the NWS and Weather.com forecasts are almost identical, we'll just stick with the graphic below +/-1. We'll see how this holds up and how the plants hold up to it:

My heart told me to enjoy the warm days while they lasted. Keep warm over there ✌🏻😎🔥

January 26

1 hour ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

And I thought the next palmageddon would occur in California. Not in Florida.

California must be way overdue a palmageddon event. Certainly the northern parts of CA and also Nevada, Arizona, northwest Mexico etc. I suppose the Los Angeles area would be pretty well protected with their microclimate from the large UHI and Sierra Nevada. Places like Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix etc are going to get hit properly sooner or later.

It seems to always be the eastern half of the USA in recent years. Well east of the Rockies anyway. When I first got into weather when I was a kid, I remember a bad freeze event happening in the southwest, but that must have been 15-20 years ago now. I think I remember seeing the outskirts of Phoenix go below 15F on Wunderground back then. And maybe 18-20F in Sacramento.

Also on a side note, just seen this...

January 26

31 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

California must be way overdue a palmageddon event. Certainly the northern parts of CA and also Nevada, Arizona, northwest Mexico etc. I suppose the Los Angeles area would be pretty well protected with their microclimate from the large UHI and Sierra Nevada. Places like Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix etc are going to get hit properly sooner or later.

It seems to always be the eastern half of the USA in recent years. Well east of the Rockies anyway. When I first got into weather when I was a kid, I remember a bad freeze event happening in the southwest, but that must have been 15-20 years ago now. I think I remember seeing the outskirts of Phoenix go below 15F on Wunderground back then. And maybe 18-20F in Sacramento.

Also on a side note, just seen this...

A lotnof the models have it way warmer on the west coast of fl than the east coast i would be barely a freeze at my place if that happened. It's becaues of wind direction if you look at all.the models the winds will be coming onshore in western fl

January 26

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

California must be way overdue a palmageddon event. Certainly the northern parts of CA and also Nevada, Arizona, northwest Mexico etc. I suppose the Los Angeles area would be pretty well protected with their microclimate from the large UHI and Sierra Nevada. Places like Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix etc are going to get hit properly sooner or later.

It seems to always be the eastern half of the USA in recent years. Well east of the Rockies anyway. When I first got into weather when I was a kid, I remember a bad freeze event happening in the southwest, but that must have been 15-20 years ago now. I think I remember seeing the outskirts of Phoenix go below 15F on Wunderground back then. And maybe 18-20F in Sacramento.

Also on a side note, just seen this...

I've only been living around the Phoenix metro area for about 4.5 years but I would imagine it would take a lot for the type of event you're referring to. Anything is possible of course but Phoenix has grown substantially along with its UHI effect.

The area is very shielded from the arctic air...The weather is much more stable and less prone to arctic outbreaks compared to the eastern two-thirds of the US. The more recent winters of 2022-23 and 2023-24 were more on the chilly side (especially 2022-23) with a lot of wet weather. However, the chilly weather basically consisted of long, drawn out periods of below average temps (i.e. highs in 50s and lows in 30s). I believe this coincided with an El Nino setup.

There's the other poster who knows a lot more about the southwest climate and weighed in a bit about previous cold snaps here in 2007 and around 1990 +/- if I'm not mistaken. Apparently they weren't quite as bad as some people made them out to be but again, I didn't live here during those times.

Bottom line is that the natural west to east flow of weather patterns across the US in addition to the terrain, helps shield the southwest from much of the arctic air when it comes down out of Canada.

January 26

1 hour ago, idontknowhatnametuse said:

And I thought the next palmageddon would occur in California. Not in Florida.

🤣 Dreams are fun, aren't they?..

16 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

California must be way overdue a palmageddon event. Certainly the northern parts of CA and also Nevada, Arizona, northwest Mexico etc. I suppose the Los Angeles area would be pretty well protected with their microclimate from the large UHI and Sierra Nevada. Places like Sacramento, Las Vegas, Phoenix etc are going to get hit properly sooner or later.

It seems to always be the eastern half of the USA in recent years. Well east of the Rockies anyway. When I first got into weather when I was a kid, I remember a bad freeze event happening in the southwest, but that must have been 15-20 years ago now. I think I remember seeing the outskirts of Phoenix go below 15F on Wunderground back then. And maybe 18-20F in Sacramento.

Still laughing..

Is another good cold spell in these parts possible? perhaps.. Likely? ..esp. in a continuously warmer era? ....Add in all those tall walls dense, cold air has a tough time climbing over, ..esp when there are hundreds... of miles of flat as a board land ..east of all them' walls.. where that cold air can easily pour right over, each year, ..We'll just have to see..

If i were cold air, i'd head where there is no resistance to my terror rather than fighting to get over walls..

How about showing us this " supposed " data of Phoenix outskirts dipping " below " 15F ..How many days? / years did this occur? ..Was it a one nighter only? 18 / 25 / 50 ..2000 years ago?

Even in Tucson, lows below 15F are exceptionally rare.. High elevation " plateau " - esque area in central S.E. AZ? yep, they can hit the mid / lower teens occasionally.. N.E. portion of the state, east and north of the rim? teens are the theme every so often.. ..for now.

Lets not forget ..PHX / overall area around Phoenix ..and Tucson.. are near the top of the fastest growing parts of the U.S.

CA is right behind us in how quickly they have grown in the last uhh ..30 years, too..

Lots ( ..and' lots.... ) of formally undeveloped land here and there that doesn't exist any more..

Add in how much the region has warmed in the past few decades and ..Good luck with the Cold, whatevertheheck a -geddon you wanna call it wishful thinking in this part of the world..

....The kind everyone east of the Rockies will always be vulnerable to, every Y X Z years, ..Until the arctic has completely melted for a few decades -at least- and an " Arctic Outbreak " in 3222 brings 50F lows to ..The Dakotas....

..Or the next ice age, when everyone everywhere can join in on the east of the rocky wall icy winter fun... 🤷🏽‍♂️

For the time being, ( ...and then some?? ) ...thank Calvin for those tall walls, and cold air's general laziness < preferring the easiest exit route over having to put much effort into getting somewhere > .. :greenthumb:

January 27

I'm unsure if I'll even bother wrapping up my foxtail as temperatures drop to the mid-20s this weekend. I could just let it sink or swim. I suspect it'd almost certainly die if I did that, though, so I will likely wrap the trunk up to at least give it a fighting chance. Seems that my 9b zone has been reaffirmed by this winter's weather. Probably not much more tropical than a bismarck is safe here without canopy protection. Hopefully my quadruple king will at least continue to do okay since it's protected by overhead canopy.

On 1/26/2026 at 2:47 PM, Merlyn said:

I'd say their "new" USDA Zone Map is about to be proven hilariously wrong. When it came out I wondered if anyone actually lived in the places where they arbitrarily drew the lines. In the past I've always posted that I live in a "9B/9A borderline" area. The current forecasting is for 2 nights at 27 at the airport, meaning probably 24-26ish for me:

The only advantage (if you can call it one) is that it's supposed to be fairly windy on Saturday night, so less chance of frost. But in reality I'll probably get at least 5 or 6 straight nights of frost and sub-freezing temps. For sure it's the coldest and longest duration forecasted cold front I've seen in my ~25 years in this house. Everything else has been 1-3 days and then it's back to the 70s.

Yeah, I honestly thought this area was perhaps turning into a warm 9b, but it looks like it's just regular 9b. 🙄

On 1/25/2026 at 10:12 PM, kinzyjr said:

In terms of hardiness zones, the forecast from Weather.com has my minimum during this event at 32F. The minimum for the entire winter thus far is 31F. That's in line with the 2023 USDA Hardiness Map putting my portion of Lakeland in USDA 10a. The 1990 zone map had Lakeland in 9a and Orlando in 9b. That means the locations in question averaged low-20s and mid-20s each year, respectively. The zone maps from 1990, 2012, and 2023 show the change over time, even if they aren't great planting guides by themselves.

Not sure what part of Lakeland you're in, but the Weather app on my iPhone is forecasting lows in the mid-20s for Lakeland on Sunday and Monday.

January 27

1 minute ago, FlaPalmLover said:

Not sure what part of Lakeland you're in, but the Weather app on my iPhone is forecasting lows in the mid-20s for Lakeland on Sunday and Monday.

I'm seeing high 20s for a low at this point, but it's been changing by the minute. Whatever we get, we get. There's 50-100 species that can handle our record low of 20F, so if something dies and the location is begging for a replacement, there are options. Probably most at risk are coconuts, Adonidia, Veitchia, and Carpentaria. Other than that, we'll see how it shakes out. The garden was getting cramped anyway.

January 27

My 7-day forecast:

Screenshot2026-01-26160741.png.6e0a34fab2f91d1584c6dbac664a09a9.png

At least most days are getting into the 50s for highs. If I am going to get any kind of 8b temps this winter, it will be Saturday night and im sure of that. A high of 37F is an extremely low bar to start off at sunset. It is hard to get highs in the 30s here without some kind of winter storm involved, which at this point in time does not look to be the case. This is just genuine cold. A highly potent arctic airmass. Those in the Peninsula should be monitoring the forecast very closely and begin making protection plans accordingly over the coming days. As for me, I am not unwrapping anything this week. Things will stay wrapped until this hell is over.

January 27

14 hours ago, MarkC said:

It’s looking brutal for even Miami and Naples. Every run trends colder and colder. I’m actually shocked at how bad the climate in Naples really is. Too many cold outbreaks especially as compared to the East Coast of Florida.

I always kinda wondered why SW Florida just doesn’t look that vibrant as even many places in SoCal, now I understand why. We can throw the hardiness zone map in the garbage already.

Has nothing to do with cold and everything to do with Hurricanes.

WELCOME GUEST

florida 2025-2026 Florida Winter

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