florida 2025-2026 Florida Winter

[Eric in Orlando]

32 at my house in Altamonte Springs, 35 at Leu Gardens. If you followed local "news" you would have thought FL was having another Dec. 1989 freeze with the ridiculous feels like temp ratings hype.

[flplantguy]

1 hour ago, Eric in Orlando said:

32 at my house in Altamonte Springs, 35 at Leu Gardens. If you followed local "news" you would have thought FL was having another Dec. 1989 freeze with the ridiculous feels like temp ratings hype.

I'm glad someone else noticed that! It's infuriating since both numbers matter for different reasons, and they act like the "feels like" is the actual temp. Super misleading click bait and by "reputable" sources. 

I'm so glad the sun comes out after most of these fronts, it looks nice out my window and the greenhouse is a warm and welcome 82, with the vent cracked in sun. I'll probably just cover what I covered again a few more times this weekend, I don't buy the 39 forecast here tonight, but maybe I'm jaded after last January lol.

[Matthew92]

Temps across parts of FL this morning at 7:15am EST.

Most of Orlando went below freezing. A fairly rare occurrence in recent times!

[Matthew92]

24 degrees here this morning. Some tropicals like variegated shell ginger, Cordyline fruticosa, and tibouchina that had persisted under canopy from the other freeze events finally bit the dust. Even my Philodendron 'Xanadu' leaves browned underneath the tree canopy. Philodendron selloum survived seemingly unscathed: but any colder and it probably would have gotten damaged.

Local weather platforms and even NWS always have my location forecast too warm as I'm on the northern edge of town away from the water. Low was forecast for 30!! I always check Crestview's forecast because sometimes my location matches there for worst case. Only areas right in the bayous and near the beaches were that warm.

And it just occurred to me that areas around Gainesville and even Ocala got colder than my lowest temp this winter so far! (24deg). It just goes to show that it takes a cold air mass coming in at the right angle to funnel the cold air down the peninsula. Being that in other recent events where my location got into the teens, those same areas in the peninsula were the same or even warmer than this morning. The way such cold airmasses affects the state can vary considerably.

[kinzyjr]

My main sensor recorded 31F.  The lowest sensor in the yard had 29.5F.  There was no frost in the yard or in the open yards down the road, but there was a light layer on the roof and on the tops of the cars.  The lowest hourly at the airport was 30.2F.  There wasn't a lot of initial damage, but it won't be evident for a while and we have another front on the way.  At the current time, it looks like slightly milder with frost coming up Sunday overnight.

The NWS airport hourly reports are attached in ZIP form.

20260116_obhistory.zip

[Jimbean]

Taken this morning.  I forgot to post it sooner. 

[RiverCityRichard]

SW corner of Volusia County. Was still 37 at 0300, so not many hours below freezing. 30.3f on the south side of the house, no canopy. 33.6f on the northeast side, under oak canopy. Frost on the grass, and some noticeable frost damage on seagrapes, Hong Kong orchids, Eucalyptus Deglupta, and Gaussia Princeps. All the sensitive stuff under canopy did well.

[malibu31]

10 hours ago, Merlyn said:

Welcome to PalmTalk!  I've been super impressed by my original 5 Alfies, taking minimal damage down to ~25F with frost.  They get some leaf burn and some yellow Magnesium-tipping deficiencies after cold snaps, but generally sail right through upper 20s with ease.  

My yard hit a low of 27.5F with not-quite-snowlike frost, but pretty close!  That's a lot colder than the local airport, once again!  I think the delta between my house and the airport really is tied to windspeed.  This time they recorded 31F for a 1 hour dip about 7AM, but I was below 30 for at least 3 or 4 hours this morning.  As in previous windless cold fronts, my front yard is around 2F warmer than the back yard.  I'm glad I put a box over the Arenga Westerhoutii and Corypha Lecomtei "big seedlings."  I will probably do the same on Sunday night.

Thank you! I'm glad to be here. These windless nights make it look really frosty in my backyard, where there is all open air. The front has pines and very little frost forms on the ground

It's looking like 3 out of the 4 appear to have noticeable damage from my cameras. Any advice for helping their recovery once temps warm up for the year? I can use all the help I can get

It's looking like Monday morning is the next cold front, forecasted low of 28° but hey, they forecasted a low of 26° this morning and those maps show 20-21°F near my area! My hunch was right in that I should have had my gardener cover them last night, I just knew it was going to be colder than forecasted - always does

[kinzyjr]

Welcome to PalmTalk @malibu31!  We're glad to have you!

One thing about the damaged palms - keep them from taking anymore damage if that is possible.  It seems like you're familiar with your individual conditions.  Some of us live in areas a little milder than our airports, others a little colder.  

 

[Jimbean]

Taken at 4AM

[Palmarum]

Friday morning... wind was luckily not as bad as some had predicted.

One thermometer on the north side of the yard had 40ºF (4.4ºC) and another had 39ºF (3.8ºC) briefly before sunrise. The more protected south-side backyard was a few degrees warmer. Then the cold 'sat' in the low 40s all morning as the breeze stopped. 

Over 17ºF's warmer this morning, but still brrr...

Ryan

[flplantguy]

Sat all night in the low 30s but just above freezing here, frost on cars and sheets but none seen on plants (could be my timing with the coldest air being 4am and I'm NOT looking then lol).  Hopefully no damage and the next freeze watches are out for the next one. Just out of those, but I don't buy it, I think the second one has been primed by the first and could be worse for me here at least.  Hopefully the last one of winter, but I doubt it with Feb and maybe march having a chance.

[kinzyjr]

A very evenly distributed 40F-41F last night.  From reading some posts on other forums and social media, with verification from WUnderground and AmbietWeather.net, apparently I was very lucky.  Not far away, temperatures in the mid-to-upper 20s with heavy frost.  Another adventure starts overnight Sunday and looks like another front Wednesday, January 28th.  Time will tell. 

[Matthew92]

65 and sunny today. Feels so warm. Hard to believe it might be snowing tomorrow morning!

 

 

[kinzyjr]

A Freeze Watch was issued for my area Sunday night into Monday morning:

Tampa WFO

Melbourne WFO

Weather.com for the rest of January with cold snaps boxed in red:

[ruskinPalms]

Doesn’t look like it got below freezing here. None of my freeze/frost indicator plants look like it got that cold. When I took my kids to school on Friday morning the car said 37 to 38 F there and back around sunrise. I know the car thermometers aren’t of the best scientific value but nothing looks froze around here so far. I guess bring on Monday night. 

[JLM]

Good morning, Palmtalk.

[JLM]

Status update: we have a dusting of snow.

[JLM]

Its prettier in daylight. It'll be gone within the next 2 hours. Winter wonderland vibes in the Panhandle this morning.

[Matthew92]

Got the snow here too. Not as much as @JLM but light to moderate snow for about 1 hour just ended. Good thing is we're not having a nuclear freeze tonight like with the snow last year (15 deg). Looks to be around 24 deg here. Nothing my plants and palms can't handle.

 

 

[Matthew92]

@JLM Wow I didn't realize your Queens have gotten so big! While it will be a hard freeze tonight, at least we aren't getting temps in the mid-teens like last year.

[JLM]

1 minute ago, Matthew92 said:

@JLM Wow I didn't realize your Queens have gotten so big! While it will be a hard freeze tonight, at least we aren't getting temps in the mid-teens like last year.

Yeah. It got to 12F here last year. NWS forecasting 28F tonight. Will have to see what happens. 

I've got icicles forming on the tips of the washy fronds as the snow melts. Current temp is 31.1F as of 7:36 AM CST.

 

Got these shots as the sun was rising this morning. My goodness it was beautiful.

[Matthew92]

56 minutes ago, JLM said:

Yeah. It got to 12F here last year. NWS forecasting 28F tonight. Will have to see what happens. 

I've got icicles forming on the tips of the washy fronds as the snow melts. Current temp is 31.1F as of 7:36 AM CST.

 

Got these shots as the sun was rising this morning. My goodness it was beautiful.

I feel like forecasted low temps have been underdone lately. Crestview forecast shows 25 deg. For my location closer to the bay it's forecasted at 28 deg. Since I'm in the cold spot of town, I think I'll match Crestview though.

[UK_Palms]

I see parts of Florida with more snow than southern England again this winter. Just like last winter when parts of northwest Florida recorded minimum temperatures that were colder than anywhere in England that winter. Quite remarkable. Although another cold blast is on the way for us in Europe later next week…

[HudsonBill]

Im over working on a house on a canal right now in west pasco county. The wind is worse than any hurricane ive seen in teh 5 years I've lived here. This is insane. 

[OutpostPalms]

I was too far west for the snow this year. Had my fun last year though. Well not fun when it came to the plants haha. Last night low temp of 31.9  F. Not even sure I’ll count that as a freeze. Literally 10 minutes below 32 around 7am. 

[SeanK]

Cold is penetrating deep into Florida. Up my way it is very windy. About 34°F plus wind when I filled the Honda with petrol. Heading into the coldest week of winter.

[Golden10]

I have a question regarding protection

northeast florida Daytona area, some of my palms already took damage from Fridays cold, today is rainy and windy and supposed to freeze again tonight. I brought my frost cloths in so they wouldn’t get soaked in today’s rain and blow away in the wind. 

my question is regarding frost covers, given that most of my plants will likely be wet tonight, my fear is the rain water freezing on the plants causing further damage  but I also don’t really know that covering wet plants is effective. Is it a lost cause at this point?  I’m thinking the clots would just get soaked anyways. 

 

thanks in advance for any advice 

 

[kinzyjr]

@Golden10 The best you're going to be able to do is provide some kind of frame or shelter so the cloth is not touching the foliage and trapping moisture on it.  If you can keep frost away, you'll have a shot.

[Jimbean]

It's crazy to think that it is 82F at my house and 46F in Orlando. 

[kinzyjr]

2 minutes ago, Jimbean said:

It's crazy to think that it is 82F at my house and 46F in Orlando. 

It went from 77F to 51F in the amount of time it took me to pick up a load of stone and come back to the house.

[Looking Glass]

Down this way it’s been a weird winter.  Mostly hot/warm with a few quick nighttime cold snaps in the 40s .   

Today it’s 82, sunny one minute, rainy the next. supposed to drop to maybe 49 tonight.  

 

[FlaPalmLover]

No noticeable damage to my foxtail from the recent cold front. I did notice some leaf burn on a young foxtail a block or two away from me, but I suspect it will recover.

[SubTropicRay]

This isn't good.  If the AO does hit -4 or lower, chances for a significant freeze are more possible area wide for central Florida and beyond.    Yes Delilah, those are freezing temps near Homestead on the Euro AI model Jan 30th.  Keep your head on a swivel.  

[Merlyn]

@malibu31 generally I just fertilize in early spring and give the Alfredii a bit of extra Magnesium Sulfate.  When I forget the extra Magnesium they tend to get more yellow tips, though that's just a general observation and not experimentally true.  

The only real risk to Alfredii seems to be hurricanes and maybe crown rot.  After winter I just keep an eye on new spear movement.  As long as they are growing new spear slowly but regularly then they'll grow out of any cold damage reasonably fast.

[JLM]

Not too sure what to think about the next 2 weeks. Models all over the places. Pattern looks quite cold, maybe even supportive of another wintry weather threat for northern Florida next weekend. I just ask that it doesn't drop below 22F in my yard.

[HudsonBill]

30 degrees ice on everything. I disnt cover anything because it didn't seem necessary. It's all god ice on it even stuff under canopy? 

[kinzyjr]

The minimum this morning ranged from 35F-37F throughout the yard.  The airport recorded 35.6F for their lowest hourly observation.  There wasn't any frost in the yard or on the plants at 7AM, but there was on the roof.  There was frozen dew on the tops of the cars.  The rain yesterday was barely a mist and was dried off by the wind.

Hope everyone fared well.

[JLM]

Hit 25.5F this morning, making it the coldest morning of the season so far.

[HudsonBill]

53 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

The minimum this morning ranged from 35F-37F throughout the yard.  The airport recorded 35.6F for their lowest hourly observation.  There wasn't any frost in the yard or on the plants at 7AM, but there was on the roof.  There was frozen dew on the tops of the cars.  The rain yesterday was barely a mist and was dried off by the wind.

Hope everyone fared well.

My yard is worse off today than it ever has been since living here..... the frost was insane thick ice on everything. I can already see the damage to to my royal and kings. 27 and no frost had 0bwffect on them 30 and frost nuked them.