florida 2025-2026 Florida Winter

[JLM]

I knew lastnight was going to be a radiational freeze event, but it was quite a sneaky one in strength. The original NWS forecast for this time yesterday had me getting down to 26F, then midday they dropped it down to 24F which seemed reasonable. The true outcome was 22F. Glad I didn't uncover anything.

 

At first glance, it looks like more stations in the state got down into the teens this morning than yesterday.

[ruskinPalms]

Around 31 here this morning. One more night which will probably have the most frost for me. 

[OutpostPalms]

I uncovered my bismarkias yesterday since weather report said 29 or 30 for lows. Ended up at 27. I’m sure they didn’t enjoy it but they should be fine. 

[MarkC]

34f here, a bit colder than expected. It seems that the colder forecast models keep winning here as always. Another 34f night tonight after originally forecasting 39f, 38f, 36f. Are there any winters in SW Florida that are not full of cold/chilly days? 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

1 hour ago, Jimbean said:

Last night, the winds died down and micro-climates made big differences.  Just like it's been said before, for convective freezes, you want to be elevated, in urban environments, near the coast or on the downwind from a large lake, but with advective freezes you just want to be as far south as possible. 

This...100%. In Southern Orange County a quarter mile off a large lake that is currently 60+ degrees.  Westerly light winds help me. Got down to 34.5F. Interesting to see temps rose overnight when winds went W. With a northerly component, they fell. Advective freeze was terrible for me. 

[Merlyn]

1 hour ago, Jimbean said:

Last night, the winds died down and micro-climates made big differences.  Just like it's been said before, for convective freezes, you want to be elevated, in urban environments, near the coast or on the downwind from a large lake, but with advective freezes you just want to be as far south as possible. 

Yep, the same thing happened here.  24.4F and light frost in my yard, with about 12 hours under freezing.  That ties exactly my 1/29/22 cold snap of 24.4F in the backyard.  That's super weird...  The local airport, being E/SE of me and firmly in the Urban Heat Island, only recorded a minimum of 28.  They are at 42F and I'm still at 34.5 in a tree-shaded area and 37.8 in a sunny area.  The forecast is for 32 and low winds again tonight, so I'll be keeping covers on my frost-sensitive plants again probably tonight, tomorrow night, and Thursday night.  I'll have to take my boxes into the garage on Wednesday, since it's supposed to rain all night.

[Bazza]

Hey everyone......

Does anyone has a recommendation for a copper spray to use on the palm buds to help with any rot associated with tissue damage?

I have a number of palms with browning foliage but the apical meristem looks OK, so would like to do what I can proactively.

Was going to use this product:

Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide, 32oz - Quart

Thanks for your input!

Baz

 

 

 

[Meangreen94z]

21 minutes ago, Bazza said:

Hey everyone......

Does anyone has a recommendation for a copper spray to use on the palm buds to help with any rot associated with tissue damage?

I have a number of palms with browning foliage but the apical meristem looks OK, so would like to do what I can proactively.

Was going to use this product:

Southern Ag Liquid Copper Fungicide, 32oz - Quart

Thanks for your input!

Baz

 

 

 

I pour hydrogen peroxide in the crown. Most cost effective solution 

[Robbertico18]

12 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

I pour hydrogen peroxide in the crown. Most cost effective solution 

Premptivley? or do you wait to confirm that there is rot/ spear pull first ? 

[Bazza]

10 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

I pour hydrogen peroxide in the crown. Most cost effective solution 

OK thanks.  What mixture ratio do you use and can you please share what kind of experiences you've had - especially with Coconuts, Foxtails, Areca, Bottles, Archontophoenix, Hurricanes, Ptychosperma?

Thanks!

[RiverCityRichard]

Bottomed out at 28.5 here in DeBary. No visible frost. 

[sonoranfans]

We hit between 30, 31F for 3 hours.  Seems like the wind was milder as temps dropped, and canopy did its job as the unprotected crotons under canopy are fine.  They typically show damage earlier than my palms.  I went out at 6:30AM and hosed down the crotons 10a palms I could reach.  Like citrus you can a prevent damage around 30-32 by wetting things down.  Freezing that water liberates heat temporarily so leaf temps at 30-31F will be warmer than air temps with water above freezing liberating heat at it freezes.  With the hurricane milton damage mid recovery I was hoping I didn't get freeze damage on top of it.  Winds were less than 4 mph or so when I went out at 6:30am.  Might still be damage, but Im thinking nif any its will be minimal.  One more night and I think the freeze threat is over this year.

[Las Palmas Norte]

The Tampa hockey (outdoor) game had perfect conditions.

[miamicuse]

8 hours ago, miamicuse said:

It feels colder but last night was much more windy in east Fort Lauderdale.

I think I will remove all the covers and tarp tomorrow afternoon.

Now seeing the forecast tonight to be around 41, I wonder if I should leave it for another night and uncover tomorrow...

[Aceraceae]

St. Lucie (airport) dropped to 23 last night, a new February record, which was 25, but a ways off from the all time record lows of 19 in both December and January.  March has been down to 26, which is even more impressive. 

It's hard to believe these daytime dew points around 12 and extremely low 20% or less humidity in spots, including the KFPR airport weather station report. Yesterday KMCO showed a dewpoint of 4 and Fort Pierce (treasure coast airport) 6.  

Does the drought have something to do with this? 

Miami and Fort Lauderdale maintained more reasonable dewpoints of 22 and 18 at least. 

[computadude]

This morning I woke up to 22.6F. Thankfully, I kept my palms covered overnight.

The fronds that I could not cover on the queens already started yellowing in the backyard.

But, I have this mutant queen in the front yard that was the same size as the others when I bought them 3 years ago, and now this one is at least 6-8 feet taller than the others. Also, no visible damage (so far) even on the unprotected fronds/leaves.

All the washies and Chinese fan palms seem intact (so far). I hope it stays that way.

 

 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

1 hour ago, Aceraceae said:

St. Lucie (airport) dropped to 23 last night, a new February record, which was 25, but a ways off from the all time record lows of 19 in both December and January.  March has been down to 26, which is even more impressive. 

It's hard to believe these daytime dew points around 12 and extremely low 20% or less humidity in spots, including the KFPR airport weather station report. Yesterday KMCO showed a dewpoint of 4 and Fort Pierce (treasure coast airport) 6.  

Does the drought have something to do with this? 

Miami and Fort Lauderdale maintained more reasonable dewpoints of 22 and 18 at least. 

Just evidence how memorable this cold event will be. Arctic air originated in the Hudson Bay and got pulled directly into Florida. The further South you go, the kore it got modified. 

Also shows how microclimates work. I'm less than 3 miles from MCO on a large lake. My station and several.others all had low dewpoints between 10 and 15 vs their 4.  Very interesting. 

[Matthew92]

Same low this morning as the day before!! 20deg 🥶 ! Calm winds/radiational. Not too much frost though. Pretty brutal. I forget what the forecast was but it was not 20, maybe low or even mid 20’s. 

[Aceraceae]

1 hour ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Just evidence how memorable this cold event will be. Arctic air originated in the Hudson Bay and got pulled directly into Florida. The further South you go, the kore it got modified. 

Also shows how microclimates work. I'm less than 3 miles from MCO on a large lake. My station and several.others all had low dewpoints between 10 and 15 vs their 4.  Very interesting. 

@kinzyjr how do the stats of this storm or low pressure system or whatever mechanisms behind this cold snap compare to the 2021 Texas cold snap and storm? 

I had said that per equivalent latitude, Florida doesn't and couldn't get quite as cold as Texas locations record cold numbers. Such that in the exact same or stronger setup as TX '21, but shifted east onto Florida, central Florida wouldn't get as cold as Houston or Galveston, Miami wouldn't get near Brownsville's record low, which is below 20, and Miami Beach wouldn't see a coconut killing freeze below 28. 

Was this FL cold snap a fair analog of that cold snap? 

[Matthew92]

On 1/31/2026 at 5:13 PM, Matthew92 said:

Hunting tent over my Philodendron selloum. I wrapped the bud/base with a heavy moving blanket underneath that. By some miracle the trunk survived 15deg and almost 6inches of snow last January with just two heavy moving blankets wrapped tightly around the bud/trunk. 

I was going to put this in the damage thread but I’ll save that to focus on the palms.

Moment of truth uncovering the tent over my Philodendron selloum. Lost the leaves but the bud looks good and intact/not mortally damaged. 

Its pretty neat you can see the trunks previously killed from hard freezes over the years. The last stem was killed in the Christmas 2022 freeze, the one before that was killed in January 2014 I believe. I looked closer under the pinestraw and there’s remnant of a much smaller trunk further down that might have been killed in Jan 2010. I think I planted it back in 2009 when I was 16 years old.

[PhoenixFXG]

Not taking any chances here lol

[UK_Palms]

4 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Just evidence how memorable this cold event will be. Arctic air originated in the Hudson Bay and got pulled directly into Florida. The further South you go, the kore it got modified. 

Also shows how microclimates work. I'm less than 3 miles from MCO on a large lake. My station and several.others all had low dewpoints between 10 and 15 vs their 4.  Very interesting. 

Imagine if this event hit 4-5 weeks ago in late December / early January when days were at their shortest and sunlight intensity at it's lowest too. So less daytime recovery between nighttime radiation freezes and an extra hour of cooling overnight.

Pretty sure that would have also made the airmass even cooler as it passed over CONUS for the same reasons. Come late January / early February that airmass, while freezing cold still from it's point of origin downwards, it would have been slightly modified by the strengthening sun and slightly longer days as it descends south. At least compared to a few weeks earlier.

The absolute worst cold potential will always be in late December / early January, close to New Years. So no matter how bad an event is in say perhaps early December, or anytime in February, you can count your lucky stars that the same airmass didn't roll in around New Years when it can maximise its potential.

The same logic can be applied to the early-mid December 2022 freeze for us here, or the February 2018 event here. If either of those two freezes came around the New Years period, it would have been even more brutal. The same goes for this Florida freeze. If that airmass that hit Texas in mid-Feb 2021 actually came in early January you can only imagine just how bad it would have been.

[HudsonBill]

Temperature is the same now as it was last night at this time. Not looking good another night in the low mid 20s. Insane. 

[kinzyjr]

The NWS recorded a minimum of 24.3F overnight at ~4:15AM.  Temperatures in my yard ranged from 26F-28F.  The forecasts throughout the area was for 27F-28F, so respectably close.  It wasn't as mild as @pj_orlando_z9b's place, but better than another 24F on the board.  The forecast tonight is for 30F.  At this point, there's a chance that a few of the damaged palms here will live, but if we get another spell like this, they'll definitely be headed to the mulch pile.

The lineup for the first half of the month is less than impressive by our standards:

 

[Kiplin]

So it looks like I took a severe hit. Just got home and of course it's dark out, but overall, it doesn't look good from a first inspection. So we hit 26f for around an hour and were under 32 for about 11 hours. The second night, we dropped to 31 for maybe 30 minutes. So here are some data points for anyone curious:

The coconut looks like it just took a severe beating. Still has green ribs on the fronds but the leaflets are mostly browned out. Certainly losing all the fronds. Can't tell what the spear looks like at this point. Hate that I have to ask, does any green on the palm mean it's heart is still beating? Maybe there's a chance???

Archontopheonix Alexandrae: this is a small palm, maybe 2 ft of trunk. Totally browned out.

Archontopheonix Tuckeri: these were next to a big boulder wall but without much of a canopy.  2ft of trunk. They look great, very little yellowing.

Buccaneer palm: this guy was out in the open and took this like a champ. Looks great. We'll see how it looks in the daylight but I'm seeing very little bronzing. One of the top performers for sure.

Dypsis pembanas: I have a lot of these. Some bronzed a bit but doesn't look bad. Most of them look really good. I think the clumping ones handle these cold spells the best since the sheer volume of tightly packed fronds help protect each other. They handled this probably the second best to the Buccaneer.

Dypsis lutescens: I have a lot of these as well. They did well, also heavily clumped so they managed things just fine. Some bronzing to the exterior fronds that were exposed the most.

Some variety of a Christmas palm: didn't do very well, think I Iost these (2). 8ft trunk and 3ft trunk.

Keptiosis olivformis: these are big specimens, trunk at least 15 ft. I have 5 of them. One was heavily exposed to the wind and looks really beat up. Lots of bronzing but still plenty of green. 2 that are protected by some bamboo and the side of the house look unscathed. 2 more that were not as well protected but not totally exposed look to be bronzed but ok. They should be able to push through.

Areca vestiaria: this little palm doesn't do much growing for me but it didn't skip a beat. I was very surprised to see it not browned out completely. But it looks just as good now as it did before the storm.

Roystonea regia: this one is a big tree with plenty of grey wood, at least 15 ft. Its hard to tell how it did. I can see green ribs but can't get a good view on the frond leaflets. At first impression, it seemed like it was ok but now I'm thinking there's a lot of brown. This one was out in the open and was totally exposed. I'll have to report back. 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa: got blasted. Green ribs and crownshafts look good but the leaflets are browned out. I had 3 healthy ones and 2 that were struggling from the hurricanes over the last couple years. The 2 that were struggling I think got wiped out. The other 3, maybe a chance. It'll take a really long time though to see this recovery since I only get 3 new fronds a year if I'm lucky.

Very sad to see all the years of work wiped out so quickly.  But that's the game we play up here in Central FL.

[Xerarch]

Saw some incredibly low temps in Brevard this morning, multiple personal stations at 21 degrees, all on the mainland of course. Merritt island was far warmer, as was Orlando. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

1 hour ago, Kiplin said:

So it looks like I took a severe hit. Just got home and of course it's dark out, but overall, it doesn't look good from a first inspection. So we hit 26f for around an hour and were under 32 for about 11 hours. The second night, we dropped to 31 for maybe 30 minutes. So here are some data points for anyone curious:

The coconut looks like it just took a severe beating. Still has green ribs on the fronds but the leaflets are mostly browned out. Certainly losing all the fronds. Can't tell what the spear looks like at this point. Hate that I have to ask, does any green on the palm mean it's heart is still beating? Maybe there's a chance???

Archontopheonix Alexandrae: this is a small palm, maybe 2 ft of trunk. Totally browned out.

Archontopheonix Tuckeri: these were next to a big boulder wall but without much of a canopy.  2ft of trunk. They look great, very little yellowing.

Buccaneer palm: this guy was out in the open and took this like a champ. Looks great. We'll see how it looks in the daylight but I'm seeing very little bronzing. One of the top performers for sure.

Dypsis pembanas: I have a lot of these. Some bronzed a bit but doesn't look bad. Most of them look really good. I think the clumping ones handle these cold spells the best since the sheer volume of tightly packed fronds help protect each other. They handled this probably the second best to the Buccaneer.

Dypsis lutescens: I have a lot of these as well. They did well, also heavily clumped so they managed things just fine. Some bronzing to the exterior fronds that were exposed the most.

Some variety of a Christmas palm: didn't do very well, think I Iost these (2). 8ft trunk and 3ft trunk.

Keptiosis olivformis: these are big specimens, trunk at least 15 ft. I have 5 of them. One was heavily exposed to the wind and looks really beat up. Lots of bronzing but still plenty of green. 2 that are protected by some bamboo and the side of the house look unscathed. 2 more that were not as well protected but not totally exposed look to be bronzed but ok. They should be able to push through.

Areca vestiaria: this little palm doesn't do much growing for me but it didn't skip a beat. I was very surprised to see it not browned out completely. But it looks just as good now as it did before the storm.

Roystonea regia: this one is a big tree with plenty of grey wood, at least 15 ft. Its hard to tell how it did. I can see green ribs but can't get a good view on the frond leaflets. At first impression, it seemed like it was ok but now I'm thinking there's a lot of brown. This one was out in the open and was totally exposed. I'll have to report back. 

Chambeyronia macrocarpa: got blasted. Green ribs and crownshafts look good but the leaflets are browned out. I had 3 healthy ones and 2 that were struggling from the hurricanes over the last couple years. The 2 that were struggling I think got wiped out. The other 3, maybe a chance. It'll take a really long time though to see this recovery since I only get 3 new fronds a year if I'm lucky.

Very sad to see all the years of work wiped out so quickly.  But that's the game we play up here in Central FL.

Sounds like my coconut. Day 3 and still a little green near the top. I'm hopeful that means it's still kicking. Now trying to figure out how t treat with peroxide as the meristem is out of my reach. 

[HudsonBill]

2 hours ago, pj_orlando_z9b said:

Sounds like my coconut. Day 3 and still a little green near the top. I'm hopeful that means it's still kicking. Now trying to figure out how t treat with peroxide as the meristem is out of my reach. 

Mine looked like that last year. It came back from ot and had a decent crown forming untill now lol.  

[Looking Glass]

13 hours ago, Aceraceae said:

@kinzyjr how do the stats of this storm or low pressure system or whatever mechanisms behind this cold snap compare to the 2021 Texas cold snap and storm? 

I had said that per equivalent latitude, Florida doesn't and couldn't get quite as cold as Texas locations record cold numbers. Such that in the exact same or stronger setup as TX '21, but shifted east onto Florida, central Florida wouldn't get as cold as Houston or Galveston, Miami wouldn't get near Brownsville's record low, which is below 20, and Miami Beach wouldn't see a coconut killing freeze below 28. 

Was this FL cold snap a fair analog of that cold snap? 

For the overnight of Feb 1st:

South Florida is protected by a lot of nearby water and the Gulf Stream.   The all time record low for Brownsville TX is 12F and for Miami and Fort Lauderdale is 28F, both records in the distant past.   We bottomed out at 35F, or so, for maybe an hour in the AM here this time.  The predominant plants are quite tropical here, and at those temps, some did take damage, though not severe.  
 

(Jensen Beach, FL hit 29F for this event)

[kinzyjr]

15 hours ago, Aceraceae said:

@kinzyjr how do the stats of this storm or low pressure system or whatever mechanisms behind this cold snap compare to the 2021 Texas cold snap and storm? 

I had said that per equivalent latitude, Florida doesn't and couldn't get quite as cold as Texas locations record cold numbers. Such that in the exact same or stronger setup as TX '21, but shifted east onto Florida, central Florida wouldn't get as cold as Houston or Galveston, Miami wouldn't get near Brownsville's record low, which is below 20, and Miami Beach wouldn't see a coconut killing freeze below 28. 

Was this FL cold snap a fair analog of that cold snap? 

That's a good question.  I'm not as familiar with the weather patterns or cold snaps in TX as here.  @Xenon would probably have a better answer.  The best analog for most of the peninsula is the January and December 2010 freezes.  This one was unique in a way.  If you were outside of the main wind field, you probably got a little salvation.  At the outset of this appearing in the forecast, my location would have been effectively exempt from this cold snap with a low of 28F.  After the storm track changed, the forecast changed to 24F.  We got that.  

@Looking Glass is correct about the record low for Brownsville.

[SeanK]

What I find remarkable about this cold event is, that temps in the panhandle and I75 central Florida are essentially the same as central Georgia. Maybe because of the winds?

[JLM]

Had a low of 34F this morning. Get a little break from cold temps tonight before the next front moves in. Looking at 32F Wednesday night then 30F on Thursday night. After that, I don't know when the next freeze will be, but I'm sure there will be another towards the end of February into March.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

12 minutes ago, SeanK said:

What I find remarkable about this cold event is, that temps in the panhandle and I75 central Florida are essentially the same as central Georgia. Maybe because of the winds?

I noticed that too. I think even Atlanta had a low in the upper 20s last night. It's because the heart of the cold air resided over the esstern peninsula. I saw a map that showed Florida had some of the coldest air on earth relative to normal. Like -30 to -35 departure from normal. Congrats to us I guess! 

[Merlyn]

@Kiplin if the lower part of the spear is still green I'd mark it horizontally against a nearby frond with a sharpie.  That way you can see if it's pushing growth next week.  As long as it keeps moving then the bud is alive.  Don't cut anything off or give up until it's stationary for several weeks straight.  Some stuff might not really grow until well into March.  Likewise if the leaflets are dead but the frond stem (rachis and/or petiole) is still green then don't cut it off.  For recovery any palm will need nutrients, and anything green still provides nutrients.

My treatment for bud rot is a big squirt of hydrogen peroxide, followed up later with Daconil.  I got that from other people on PalmTalk and it's been pretty effective.  Another PT'er said to use Mancozeb on crown rots.  Halley said this was very effective on his Alfredii seedlings.  I've bought some but haven't tried it yet.

For some of your palms, this is my experience from repeated 27-30F frosts and one night at 24.4F with frost:

• Pembana, Lutescens, Christmas, Macrocarpa and K.O. (now changed to C.O.) - all had problems with crown/bud rot after cold fronts.  They did ok with defoliation and recovery, but some caught a bud rot and died.  Pembana and Lutescens I lost trunks out of the cluster but most of the time they grew back.  I did lose one big Pembana cluster from upper trunk rot (likely Thielaviopsis).
• Archontophoenix - Most grew back from defoliation in the upper 20s, with one Tuckeri surviving 24.4F + frost and still growing fine.  Hopefully these are "bud hardy" even if they get defoliated.
• Royal - I've seen these get torched in Lake Mary/Sanford and grow a new frond a few weeks later.  Maybe these are "leaf wimpy" but "bud hardy?"
• Buccaneer - very tough.  I lost a small one to a random summer bud rot, unrelated to cold.  Otherwise tough to 20?
• Areca Vestiaria - now that's unusual.  Most Areca are absolute wimps to cold.  If that survives 26F at your place I need to plant one here!!!

Some stuff that was a sickly olive green has turned crispy brown today.  For sure it'll be bonfire time in a few weeks...

[MarkC]

I knew we were f’ed as soon as the weather channel released their (weekly) long range forecast with most of Florida being within the above average/much above average gradients. They’ve since moved the warmer gradients West(big surprise there) but still have Florida as “above average” for February, which means we are still in the shit pipe…

[Xenon]

17 hours ago, Aceraceae said:

@kinzyjr how do the stats of this storm or low pressure system or whatever mechanisms behind this cold snap compare to the 2021 Texas cold snap and storm? 

I had said that per equivalent latitude, Florida doesn't and couldn't get quite as cold as Texas locations record cold numbers. Such that in the exact same or stronger setup as TX '21, but shifted east onto Florida, central Florida wouldn't get as cold as Houston or Galveston, Miami wouldn't get near Brownsville's record low, which is below 20, and Miami Beach wouldn't see a coconut killing freeze below 28. 

Was this FL cold snap a fair analog of that cold snap? 

Houston isn't anywhere near the latitude of central Florida or Orlando. It falls right around St Augustine and long term is pretty analogous to that region of northeastern Florida. All time record lows in the 1980s and 1890s are very similar in Houston-Galveston and Jacksonville-St Augustine. A 2021 event in Florida would have snow on the ground in Jacksonville for days with consecutive freezing hours numbering in the days, not hours. With a low somewhere in the low-mid teens. The January 2025 snowstorm that nuked Louisiana through to the western FL Panhandle was pretty similar. 

Florida really starts to diverge temp-wise relative to latitude deeper in the peninsula with increasing water moderation. Roughly around a line from Daytona to Ocala to the Gulf +/-. All places south of there are warmer or much warmer than the equivalent latitude in TX. Nothing to debate there. Extreme southern Texas might draw comparisons to central Florida, not Miami. 

Miami/southeast Florida especially is crazy crazy warm, one of the most anomalously warm places on earth. It's warmer there than 21-22 degrees latitude in Mexico along the Gulf, coastal Vietnam at 18 degrees latitude, etc. A continental location at 25-26 degrees latitude with a nearly 70 degree average mean temp in January is absolutely bonkers. Some winters don't even drop below 50F.

Don't want to detail this thread into some climate debate comparison. Hopefully winter is over for all of us! 

[SeanK]

1 hour ago, Merlyn said:

@Kiplin if the lower part of the spear is still green I'd mark it horizontally against a nearby frond with a sharpie.  That way you can see if it's pushing growth next week.  As long as it keeps moving then the bud is alive.  Don't cut anything off or give up until it's stationary for several weeks straight.  Some stuff might not really grow until well into March.  Likewise if the leaflets are dead but the frond stem (rachis and/or petiole) is still green then don't cut it off.  For recovery any palm will need nutrients, and anything green still provides nutrients.

My treatment for bud rot is a big squirt of hydrogen peroxide, followed up later with Daconil.  I got that from other people on PalmTalk and it's been pretty effective.  Another PT'er said to use Mancozeb on crown rots.  Halley said this was very effective on his Alfredii seedlings.  I've bought some but haven't tried it yet.

For some of your palms, this is my experience from repeated 27-30F frosts and one night at 24.4F with frost:

• Pembana, Lutescens, Christmas, Macrocarpa and K.O. (now changed to C.O.) - all had problems with crown/bud rot after cold fronts.  They did ok with defoliation and recovery, but some caught a bud rot and died.  Pembana and Lutescens I lost trunks out of the cluster but most of the time they grew back.  I did lose one big Pembana cluster from upper trunk rot (likely Thielaviopsis).
• Archontophoenix - Most grew back from defoliation in the upper 20s, with one Tuckeri surviving 24.4F + frost and still growing fine.  Hopefully these are "bud hardy" even if they get defoliated.
• Royal - I've seen these get torched in Lake Mary/Sanford and grow a new frond a few weeks later.  Maybe these are "leaf wimpy" but "bud hardy?"
• Buccaneer - very tough.  I lost a small one to a random summer bud rot, unrelated to cold.  Otherwise tough to 20?
• Areca Vestiaria - now that's unusual.  Most Areca are absolute wimps to cold.  If that survives 26F at your place I need to plant one here!!!

Some stuff that was a sickly olive green has turned crispy brown today.  For sure it'll be bonfire time in a few weeks...

Probably a good plan to treat palms with peroxide, even if they look OK. 

[ahosey01]

2 hours ago, Xenon said:

Houston isn't anywhere near the latitude of central Florida or Orlando. It falls right around St Augustine and long term is pretty analogous to that region of northeastern Florida. All time record lows in the 1980s and 1890s are very similar in Houston-Galveston and Jacksonville-St Augustine. A 2021 event in Florida would have snow on the ground in Jacksonville for days with consecutive freezing hours numbering in the days, not hours. With a low somewhere in the low-mid teens. The January 2025 snowstorm that nuked Louisiana through to the western FL Panhandle was pretty similar. 

Florida really starts to diverge temp-wise relative to latitude deeper in the peninsula with increasing water moderation. Roughly around a line from Daytona to Ocala to the Gulf +/-. All places south of there are warmer or much warmer than the equivalent latitude in TX. Nothing to debate there. Extreme southern Texas might draw comparisons to central Florida, not Miami. 

Miami/southeast Florida especially is crazy crazy warm, one of the most anomalously warm places on earth. It's warmer there than 21-22 degrees latitude in Mexico along the Gulf, coastal Vietnam at 18 degrees latitude, etc. A continental location at 25-26 degrees latitude with a nearly 70 degree average mean temp in January is absolutely bonkers. Some winters don't even drop below 50F.

Don't want to detail this thread into some climate debate comparison. Hopefully winter is over for all of us! 

Richard says Brownsvile = Daytona Beach, give or take.

I think his take is mostly true.  This event for Florida was probably nothing like 2021 for the RGV, despite the temps.  Although I would say that the temps in much of central FL were pretty strikingly low.  I think the official temp for central Brownsville in 2021 was 22F but I don't know of any stations other than the airport that measured that.  I saw something like 20F in Ocala which seems crazy to me.  Difference is I believe it warmed up pretty substantially during the day in FL this go around.

[MarkC]

28 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

Richard says Brownsvile = Daytona Beach, give or take.

I think his take is mostly true.  This event for Florida was probably nothing like 2021 for the RGV, despite the temps.  Although I would say that the temps in much of central FL were pretty strikingly low.  I think the official temp for central Brownsville in 2021 was 22F but I don't know of any stations other than the airport that measured that.  I saw something like 20F in Ocala which seems crazy to me.  Difference is I believe it warmed up pretty substantially during the day in FL this go around.

Central Collier county not that far from the Gulf, got down to 22F. The record low in Immokalee is 20F. Several miles to the direct east of me, in the Eastern Golden Gate area has some crazy temperature drop offs. 

[JLM]

Given that the arctic high was centered over the Peninsula this morning, it's no surprise that portions of Central America and the Greater Antilles experienced some cooler temperatures as well. However, I'm not sure anybody expected a site in Cuba to set a new all time record low for the country.

Indio Hatuey, Cuba had a low temperature of 0C/32F this morning. 

A true testament to how potent this airmass is.