florida 2025-2026 Florida Winter

[80s Kid]

30 minutes ago, HudsonBill said:

If next winter is like this I'm moving back to pa. If it's going to be an average pa winter in florida I might aswell be back up there and be close to family. This state is a lie. 

Yikes! I don't think you want to do that. You're basically getting frost/freeze six months out of the year in PA and that was way too much for me on top of the frigid three headed monster known as December, January and February. 

I realize it's not for everyone but if you can deal with living in an oven for 3-4 months out of the year, the rest of the year is beautiful in the low desert southwest (i.e. Phoenix/Scottsdale)...Literally the exact opposite of Pennsylvania. The weather is more stable compared to the eastern US. 

Regardless, I've always liked Florida but have never lived there. At least you know the warm up will come much faster than PA. 

[flplantguy]

2 hours ago, HudsonBill said:

If next winter is like this I'm moving back to pa. If it's going to be an average pa winter in florida I might aswell be back up there and be close to family. This state is a lie. 

It won't be like this, but we will always have freezes up here.  This is the data for January 2010 from a station off SR 52 and moon lake rd.  Even worse but similar daytime highs. It's cyclical so every once in a while this type of year comes along and schews the averages. It says 2 or 3 freezes per winter here on average and I'm up to 11, so we are getting a few years in at once. That means a few without should be coming up too 🤞.  If this all comes in a group in January like these have, then I will just set up my stuff in advance and do what's needed just before so I can keep growing something I like. And now we know these major fronts can still penetrate Florida all the way down like before, so everyone knows to plan(t) for the next one, even if we get 20 years between.  Some careful planning and selection is a must when you live on the edge of the yearly freeze line, just gotta figure out what and where.

 

The second set of columns above is the dew point the first is air temps.

[PalmBossTampa]

On 2/6/2026 at 7:43 AM, HudsonBill said:

If next winter is like this I'm moving back to pa. If it's going to be an average pa winter in florida I might aswell be back up there and be close to family. This state is a lie. 

My friends in PA and i looked at his forecast for comfort. He went from-12 to positive 15 all week

 

I had a 29, 25, then a 23 @ Lithia. I’ve traveled 1000 miles this week in central FL and saw lots of damage of course. I believe most foxtails will recover provided they were of descent health prior. 

Important note. Florida has insufficient Magnesium so this is an important part of regular fertilization for palms here. When a palm has inadequate supply of Mg it can normally take from the oldest leaves in order to produce healthier spears. Not so much after a hard frost though. All of the removed foliage is taking Mg out of the cycle. Same happened after Milton where fronds were wind removed.  Magnesium needs to be applied gradually though or you can cause salt injury.   

[Matthew92]

Got to 27deg this morning…

[flplantguy]

I have my bucaneer and spindles in the front since they take cold better (as the photos show), but mine look bad after two years of mid 20s once each year. Outside the 24.8 radiational freeze the second night of the big event I have had 28.9 to 31.9 degrees 10 times this winter and it's starting to show. I've been lucky for the area but it's a little depressing in front right now. Aiming for zone 9b arid stuff for up there now and hoping it's not too humid and rainy for some like brahea.  Cacti love it up front too.  I left the desert for Florida and now am going to create it🙄🤣.

[Merlyn]

I did a dose of hydrogen peroxide on pretty much all the palms yesterday afternoon.  Most didn't react at all, but the Cyphophoenix (all of them) foamed up like mad.  Those turned black when they burnt, instead of the typical red/brown.  I'm sure they are D-E-D.  After that I mixed up a total of 2.5 gallons of Daconil and squirted it into the crown of all the palms and almost all the cycads.

As expected, the cold damage just keeps looking worse and worse.  The 31.3F and heavy snowlike frost this morning didn't help at all.  Here's the data logs, frost and local airport temps.

[HudsonBill]

Forecast lows of 38 2 nights in a row this weekend so I'll assume 2 more freezes or at minimum heavy frost. 

[Hombre de Palmas]

Surprise 33°F low this AM with a light frost. Lost a couple more smaller plants that I had saved in the preceding freezes as the forecast was 36°F and the NWS was very accurate over the past week. I was just tired of moving things. 

I have family in town from way up north that wanted to come down to "warm up". I suggested that early-mid March was more reliable for warm temps but they insisted on early February.

Anyway, they wanted to go see Palm Beach yesterday so I got a chance to drive down the east coast a bit and make some observations.

There was major damage to most of the usual suspects. Seagrape was burned badly all the way down. Cocos, Wodyetias, Archontophoenix, Adonidias, Arecas, Bottles & Royals all had severe to moderate damage with some pockets that seemed mostly spared but I could not figure out why. These were pretty small pockets so they really were microclimates.

As expected, by the time we reached Palm Beach proper the damage was far less severe but still noticeable in many places, especially in open areas. The cocos seemed particularly hard hit relatively speaking.

Hutchinson Island which is the barrier island proximate to PSL was not spared, though the damage to a significant percentage of affected tropicals looked survivable.

PSL is a horror show. Sabals, Washingtonia, Roebellinii, Bismarkia, Syagrus, Livistona all seem fine...for now at least but all the zone 10 rated are torched. I have not experienced a freeze of any sort in my 10 years here, a few light frosts was all, so this will be a lesson in recovery for me, primarily for Royals, as I understand mature specimens can bounce back... but I recorded 25,24°F on consecutive nights and they all look terrible.

I am not allowing myself hope on my Adonidias and Wodyetias and it is a shame, because they were so healthy and really nice specimens, I put a lot of effort (and money) into them. I'm still in a bit in shock that the temperature here was not much different than that of far north Florida during this event. 

 

[kinzyjr]

Just got another report from the Belle Isle area:

https://www.palmtalk.org/forum/topic/92721-orlando-fl-freeze-2026-difference-between-archontophoenix-cunninghameana-and-alexandrae/?do=getNewComment

[Palmarum]

Phew... it won't stop coming will it...

I had forecasts saying the low for today would be 44ºF (7ºC) and it seemed to be the average. I had 38ºF (3ºC) instead, and luckily without much wind. At least the most sensitive stuff was still in the garage which I had to heat once again. The rain that came with yesterday's front did not do much but make it damp before vanishing with the dry air behind it. Found iguana number five, which someone had snacked upon.

Ryan

[kinzyjr]

The lows in the yard ranged from 34F-36F this morning.  The local airport (KLAL) recorded a minimum observation of 32.7F.  The NWS observations for 02/06/2026 are attached in ZIP format.

20260206_obhistory.zip

[flplantguy]

Forecast tonight is for 36 or 39 depending on the source. After the last completely bungled forecast I can't trust it at all. I could be in the 30s or upper 20s after the last one being so many degrees off, and I can't trust the forecast at all now. I think everyone is in the same boat so don't expect the temps to be what they say again and don't put anything sensitive back out until Sunday or Monday at least. 

[kinzyjr]

From the Sea Surface Temperatures, plan on having less protection at night and cooler daytime highs for a while:

[ruskinPalms]

More cold damage is starting to show on a lot of my palms. I don’t think anything is going to die except maybe my last standing Adonidia that I think had some sort of fungus before the winter. My C. macrocarpa is pretty beat up from frost but I don’t think it will die this winter. The problem is that it is super slow for me and between hurricane damage and freeze damage it may not recover enough before next winter sets in. Fast palms for the win in this area… My smaller, more exposed coconut took a lot of frost damage too. We will see if it makes it.  Most of my palms look more or less ok. I’ll post pictures maybe in another week to really let the cold damage expose itself. I’ve been through this plenty of times to think a palm is ok after the first few days to only see it turn into a crispy critter or otherwise decline and die. 

 

I don’t think it went below 31 here for all the nights but plenty of frost. More than I have seen here since I moved here in 2015. 

[OutpostPalms]

On 2/4/2026 at 8:16 AM, Hombre de Palmas said:

25, 24°F on consecutive nights. I had understood that the all-time low here was 23°F. Our weather station is at 10FT because my wife wanted it to better catch the wind, but I don't think that would affect the reading too much.  The Port Saint Lucie area is pretty ugly and will be for awhile. I am waiting for my Adonidias and Wodyetias to succumb. Too old to start again...a young man's game. But at least I got enough left in me to clean up the mess and right-size the yard. There will be TONS of lawn waste to be picked up over the next several months although I fear many residents won't even bother. I am looking at three large coconuts across the street that will probably be there for ages. 

This bomb cyclone efficiently funneled the cold air right over this area. We received little to no benefit from our geography as compared to more northern and inland locations.  To add insult to injury the NWS is now calling  for YET ANOTHER frost here Thursday night. We saved a lot of potted stuff by filling our garage for three nights and I'm not doing that again!

Such is life.

 

Do you think the having the weather station 10 feet up raises or lowers the temp readings during cold events? Mine is set up the same way except it’s about 20 feet above ground. (I have a raised house with the floor being 16 feet above ground) I feel like it gives colder readings because it doesn’t get any ground heat up there but then again cold air sinks. 

[flplantguy]

Some people will once again wake up to surprises temp wise, especially rural. freezing temps well below the southern limit of the advisory area and frost where none was forecast I'm sure. I guess they figured "screw it, they have all seen freezing enough times we don't need a warning anymore, damage done" or something.  Or maybe the pattern is so rare they don't know how to handle it, but if it's well established after the last few major events then it's something that could be allowed for.  Idk but at least the warmup coming isn't difficult to forecast.

[HudsonBill]

Exactly 5 deg below forecast at 33 here. Weather station off of Denton read 26 

[kinzyjr]

My stations recorded 39F-40F in the yard.  The lowest at KLAL overnight was 39.2F.  The forecast was an overnight low of 40F here, so it was close here.  In the areas north of town, most people look at the Brooksville weather to see what they are going to get.  There has been more frost in the area than has been seen in a while.

[Hombre de Palmas]

16 hours ago, OutpostPalms said:

Do you think the having the weather station 10 feet up raises or lowers the temp readings during cold events? Mine is set up the same way except it’s about 20 feet above ground. (I have a raised house with the floor being 16 feet above ground) I feel like it gives colder readings because it doesn’t get any ground heat up there but then again cold air sinks. 

Good question.

I think it depends on the mixing. It probably reads a bit higher in an radiational event and a bit lower in a advective event.

I'm not sure it makes much of a difference though, we are usually 1-2°F lower than the closest reporting stations. That could be the thermometer within the weather station. I meant to get another thermometer to mount 2M up near the weather station but that dogsled has left the igloo.

 

[HudsonBill]

2 hours ago, kinzyjr said:

My stations recorded 39F-40F in the yard.  The lowest at KLAL overnight was 39.2F.  The forecast was an overnight low of 40F here, so it was close here.  In the areas north of town, most people look at the Brooksville weather to see what they are going to get.  There has been more frost in the area than has been seen in a while.

Brooksville airport is cold for the area. 

[kinzyjr]

18 hours ago, OutpostPalms said:

Do you think the having the weather station 10 feet up raises or lowers the temp readings during cold events? Mine is set up the same way except it’s about 20 feet above ground. (I have a raised house with the floor being 16 feet above ground) I feel like it gives colder readings because it doesn’t get any ground heat up there but then again cold air sinks. 

The standard suggested for COOP stations is 4ft-6ft for temperature and 30ft. for the anemometer.  This is only possible if the anemometer is separate from the temperature sensor.  If the unit is all-in-one, then you have to go one way or the other unless you buy additional sensors and link them for the models that allow that.    

There are stations in town that are mounted high.  In particular, there is an Ambient Weather mounted at 30 feet not too far away that seems to record reasonable numbers.  There's a slew of documents available to guide installation for official records here: 

https://www.weather.gov/coop  

The average urban or suburban property isn't capable of meeting the NWS reporting guidelines.  In my own case, too many trees, bushes, fences, concrete borders, etc.  The manual for observing the various aspects are available at this link: 

https://www.weather.gov/media/directives/010_pdfs/pd01013002curr.pdf 

[Hombre de Palmas]

46 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

The standard suggested for COOP stations is 4ft-6ft for temperature and 30ft. for the anemometer.  This is only possible if the anemometer is separate from the temperature sensor.  If the unit is all-in-one, then you have to go one way or the other unless you buy additional sensors and link them for the models that allow that.    

There are stations in town that are mounted high.  In particular, there is an Ambient Weather mounted at 30 feet not too far away that seems to record reasonable numbers.  There's a slew of documents available to guide installation for official records here: 

https://www.weather.gov/coop  

The average urban or suburban property isn't capable of meeting the NWS reporting guidelines.  In my own case, too many trees, bushes, fences, concrete borders, etc.  The manual for observing the various aspects are available at this link: 

https://www.weather.gov/media/directives/010_pdfs/pd01013002curr.pdf 

Many thanks for the info.

[Aceraceae]

On 2/7/2026 at 11:26 AM, kinzyjr said:

From the Sea Surface Temperatures, plan on having less protection at night and cooler daytime highs for a while:

Water barley over 50 in central FL  and well below 70 in parts of SE FL and Key West is very chilly. Miami Beach is likely notably warmer than that 64 Virginia Key reading, likely closer to that Palm Beach 71 reading. go go gadget gulf stream. Water below 68 is not readily swimmable by tropical standards. 

[bubba]

https://seatemperature.info/february/west-palm-beach-water-temperature.html  
 

Saw many folks swimming today! It was nice with good waves. I will post pictures of the Armageddon experienced here in the near future!

[JLM]

With lows in the 50s over the next week, all the potted plants have come out of hiding.

Going to be gradually re-acclimating everything in pots to the sun after they were all under a tarp for like 3 weeks or something like that.

Looking longer range, models are advertising this warmth to continue, and I find it quite likely it will at least thru the last week of February. Beyond then becomes sketchy at least up here in the Panhandle, the end of February and early part of March could very well be a continuation of the warmth we are getting ready to experience, or it could turn off cold again. I think we are done with the deep freezes, and with each passing day the threat for freezing temperatures is ticking lower, but it wont be zero until mid March.

As always I am monitoring closely, but I am definitely starting to get the tingles of spring time.

Would also like to point out that the cold snap did not stop the maples from flowering, like at all.

[JLM]

More trees flowering around here, maples are looking good and red. 

Pollen is starting to accumulate on surfaces. I can confidently say we are now in Spring in the FL Panhandle. I also still think we get another freeze before the end of March.

For now though, highs in the 70s approaching the low 80s at the end of the 7 day period will certainly get all the tropicals going again, especially with the lows only being in the 50s and 60s.

[Atlanta Area Palm Guy]

I know Florida was hit rough this Winter.  I hope everyone took advantage of it to make observations about their own local microclimates.  They will have a way of revealing themselves in events such as these.

I'm really impressed with all of the data we have available these days.  Weather stations are now abundant in much of the country.  Sites like Wunderground are great.

Anyway, interesting to read these posts.  Good info.

[MarkC]

The end of the 10 day run is looking interesting, another Arctic outbreak far-reaching into South Florida? 
 

[kinzyjr]

13 minutes ago, MarkC said:

The end of the 10 day run is looking interesting, another Arctic outbreak far-reaching into South Florida?

There was supposed to be another one coming.  If there is, anything on life support can head to the compost pile.

[SeanK]

Current Temps, Sunday, 14:00

[MarkC]

16 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

There was supposed to be another one coming.  If there is, anything on life support can head to the compost pile.

I wonder where else on planet Earth at 26* latitude experiences Arctic outbreaks in November, December, January and even late February? Outside of a several mile stretch inland from WPB to just south of Miami, I don’t feel the overall climate in Florida is very good for growing long-term tropicals. Each “good” location outside of SE Florida seems to have too many negatives and too many gotchas. 

[SeanK]

How did the minimum temps compare to the older Maps?

 

[JLM]

40 minutes ago, MarkC said:

The end of the 10 day run is looking interesting, another Arctic outbreak far-reaching into South Florida? 
 

I have not seen anything suggesting an arctic outbreak. During that time period, the lowest I've seen on model guidance up to 12z yesterday even for the Panhandle was the upper 30s to lower 40s. As always I'll be watching things closely, but an arctic outbreak doesn't appear likely, maybe just a slight cool down.

[MarkC]

8 minutes ago, JLM said:

I have not seen anything suggesting an arctic outbreak. During that time period, the lowest I've seen on model guidance up to 12z yesterday even for the Panhandle was the upper 30s to lower 40s. As always I'll be watching things closely, but an arctic outbreak doesn't appear likely, maybe just a slight cool down.

Normally, I wouldn’t have been too fazed by such an unfortunate end to a 10-day forecast, as I would have coughed it up to shoddy algorithms, but this year, it’s been a series of dire forecasts being realized. The way it’s been playing out, day 1 we get an absurdly cold forecast for the end of a ten day run. Next few days, it moderates. Then backtracks back to the original cold forecast. 

[HudsonBill]

Ooooooof 

[kinzyjr]

On 2/15/2026 at 2:16 PM, SeanK said:

How did the minimum temps compare to the older Maps?

In general terms, an inverse of the 1990 map, with the west coast of Florida being spared to a degree.  All of the maps are averages for 30-year periods, so more of an accident to be closer to an event than anything.  Once the data for this event is available and they've had a chance to quality control it, I'll add a layer to the December 2022- ???? Impact Freeze Map so it is viewable for everyone.  A map of record minimums is more beneficial for anyone looking to plant bulletproof.

All of the impact freeze maps are available freely on the CFPACS website in the Publications section.

https://cfpacs.com/org/palmateer/

[MarkC]

2 hours ago, HudsonBill said:

Ooooooof 

Yeap, and as has been the case, the cold seems to be winning out once again. The forecast now puts Naples into the upper 30’s again. Yeap, great climate in SW Florida…

[HudsonBill]

6 hours ago, MarkC said:

Yeap, and as has been the case, the cold seems to be winning out once again. The forecast now puts Naples into the upper 30’s again. Yeap, great climate in SW Florida…

Yep this year apparently it's just normal for me to be below freezing half the winter. Normaly it's super hard to get below freezing buttons year its just normal. I'll have to break out all the protection again since I'm forecast to be 35 as of now witch means more like 30. 

[HudsonBill]

Very year I've been here it's been 0 to maybe 3 or 4 nights where it got below freezing. This year I'm at like 13 or something like that and everyone just says it's normal? Like just north of me maybe 2 miles tge weather stations where below freezing for a week straight. Just north of tampa. Doesn't seem normal. I also don't see how it gets so cold here in nov or end of Feb with such a high sun angle.  None of it makes sense to me at all. Everything is pushing new growth and it's going to get wacked again. I'm just digging it all out. All of it and planting cactus. Between constant drought and freezes it's impossible to grow anything remotely tropical. My back yard looks brown like it did up north. Depressing. 

[Matthew92]

Current coldest day on the latest Euro run. Maybe light freeze for FL Panhandle.