Worst Winter Yet

[GregVirginia7]

Looks like the worst winter for a long time here in Northern Virginia. Been subfreezing for days and the weather map shows 5 more single digit nights yet to come with predicted nights thereafter in the low teens. Last winter we only had two nights in single digits and that fried almost all my 12’ Trachy’s fronds. I can only hope the tree doesn’t die after this extended round of serious winter. I lit up the crown days prior to the onset of this blast along with the upper trunk with incandescent Christmas lights and added a bit of burlap to the crown for insulation to try to keep that area alive, but a weak effort I’m afraid…If it survives this, it’ll be one for my record books. The Brazoria behind the Trachy will get defoliated as well. Its trunk is lit up and wrapped in a thick layer of burlap up to the crown. Both trees have been in-ground since around 2014 and never faced anything like this.

 

This is also the first winter since the 2014/15 planting of the needles that I’ve seen their segments fold shut. It’s a slight reaction occurring at the outer reaches of the fronds but something different for them.

The Medi is covered as usual and has a ground blanket of hundreds of lights with the hope that the rising heat they create will be enough…again this winter is a first…but the fronds aren’t showing any bronzing yet and when that shroud gets lit up by the sun, it really hauls in a lot of radiated solar energy, thus moderating the subfreezing sunny days a bit. The unprotected McCurtain beside it will get the ultimate test and I’m anxious to share the results because I think it will pull through this with little to no damage. We’ll see.

The only positive out of this is that the days, though subfreezing, are sunny and the big Trachy, Needles and Medi shroud get a good blast of sunshine for a good portion of the day. Not to mention we haven’t lost any electricity! Sure hope I don’t lose any of these troopers! Hope all affected out there make it through this with as little damage as possible.

 

[Allen]

What are the lows?  Below 8F you'll get quite a bit of Trachy frond damage

[tarnado]

Good luck! I have high hopes for your palms. 

It's a pity palms looks so cool in the snow.

[PAPalmtrees]

34 minutes ago, GregVirginia7 said:

Looks like the worst winter for a long time here in Northern Virginia. Been subfreezing for days and the weather map shows 5 more single digit nights yet to come with predicted nights thereafter in the low teens. Last winter we only had two nights in single digits and that fried almost all my 12’ Trachy’s fronds. I can only hope the tree doesn’t die after this extended round of serious winter. I lit up the crown days prior to the onset of this blast along with the upper trunk with incandescent Christmas lights and added a bit of burlap to the crown for insulation to try to keep that area alive, but a weak effort I’m afraid…If it survives this, it’ll be one for my record books. The Brazoria behind the Trachy will get defoliated as well. Its trunk is lit up and wrapped in a thick layer of burlap up to the crown. Both trees have been in-ground since around 2014 and never faced anything like this.

 

This is also the first winter since the 2014/15 planting of the needles that I’ve seen their segments fold shut. It’s a slight reaction occurring at the outer reaches of the fronds but something different for them.

The Medi is covered as usual and has a ground blanket of hundreds of lights with the hope that the rising heat they create will be enough…again this winter is a first…but the fronds aren’t showing any bronzing yet and when that shroud gets lit up by the sun, it really hauls in a lot of radiated solar energy, thus moderating the subfreezing sunny days a bit. The unprotected McCurtain beside it will get the ultimate test and I’m anxious to share the results because I think it will pull through this with little to no damage. We’ll see.

The only positive out of this is that the days, though subfreezing, are sunny and the big Trachy, Needles and Medi shroud get a good blast of sunshine for a good portion of the day. Not to mention we haven’t lost any electricity! Sure hope I don’t lose any of these troopers! Hope all affected out there make it through this with as little damage as possible.

 

This winter has just been brutal. i am worried about my palms with all these days below freezing the warmest temperature in the past 5 days has been 28. here's what one of my sable miner looks like right now. next week there's a good chance there will be another Arctic blast.I'm not looking forward to it If there is

[GregVirginia7]

35 minutes ago, Allen said:

What are the lows?  Below 8F you'll get quite a bit of Trachy frond damage

Three consecutive nights coming up at 6f. Then low teens at night up through next week, not breaking the dayside Fahrenheit freezing mark till next Thursday! The Trachy will be bald when I clean it up in the Spring…just hoping I’m not cutting it down.

[GregVirginia7]

14 minutes ago, PAPalmtrees said:

This winter has just been brutal. i am worried about my palms with all these days below freezing the warmest temperature in the past 5 days has been 28. here's what one of my sable miner looks like right now. next week there's a good chance there will be another Arctic blast.I'm not looking forward to it If there is

Mine look just like that. They are unprotected and about half covered in snow. I’ll see how they do as is. It’s my older, trunking palms that have me concerned but my goal for all my palms is minimal to no protection…understanding that my zone requires winter attention but trying to narrow down what will ultimately work best and at this rate, it will only be the McCurtain and the Needles…😂

[tarnado]

Brutal

[PAPalmtrees]

14 minutes ago, GregVirginia7 said:

Mine look just like that. They are unprotected and about half covered in snow. I’ll see how they do as is. It’s my older, trunking palms that have me concerned but my goal for all my palms is minimal to no protection…understanding that my zone requires winter attention but trying to narrow down what will ultimately work best and at this rate, it will only be the McCurtain and the Needles…😂

 Exactly lol. i only have two sable miners protected but i have good reasons for protecting them. The first one was planted very late in the season. the second one was not looking so good so i decided to protect it, so it would not get any more damage. It was not cold damage, but some other stuff And this spring i will nurse it back to health. i know protecting the one planted very late in the season was probably unnecessary but i saw how long this cold was gonna be and decided to

[Allen]

26 minutes ago, GregVirginia7 said:

Three consecutive nights coming up at 6f. Then low teens at night up through next week, not breaking the dayside Fahrenheit freezing mark till next Thursday! The Trachy will be bald when I clean it up in the Spring…just hoping I’m not cutting it down.

If you don't want to wrap, throw a big tarp over it (Use long pole to shift) with ropes tied to all 4 corners and tie in a umbrella.  Then fire up that patio heater underneath if you want to get wild but careful not to tip it.  Or aim a couple big spotlights shining into umbrella

[SeanK]

Boy, I'm sure glad the NWS predicted a warm, La Niña winter.

[jwitt]

32 minutes ago, SeanK said:

Boy, I'm sure glad the NWS predicted a warm, La Niña winter.

In a month or two, we will read about the "warmest winter on record".

Guaranteed 

[PAPalmtrees]

1 hour ago, jwitt said:

In a month or two, we will read about the "warmest winter on record".

Guaranteed 

I wish I could say the same about us in the mid-atlantic😔

[GregVirginia7]

2 hours ago, PAPalmtrees said:

 Exactly lol. i only have two sable miners protected but i have good reasons for protecting them. The first one was planted very late in the season. the second one was not looking so good so i decided to protect it, so it would not get any more damage. It was not cold damage, but some other stuff And this spring i will nurse it back to health. i know protecting the one planted very late in the season was probably unnecessary but i saw how long this cold was gonna be and decided to

Yes…I’d say a later 2025 planting would have to be protected, especially in this kind of extended freeze. Establishment is everything with these palms and that takes a few years for sure. All the best this winter.

[GregVirginia7]

2 hours ago, Allen said:

If you don't want to wrap, throw a big tarp over it (Use long pole to shift) with ropes tied to all 4 corners and tie in an umbrella.  Then fire up that patio heater underneath if you want to get wild but careful not to tip it.  Or aim a couple big spotlights shining into umbrella

Thank you Allen…I was considering putting the patio heater to work. Your tenting idea makes good sense. I’ll take a look into that.

[GregVirginia7]

1 hour ago, jwitt said:

In a month or two, we will read about the "warmest winter on record".

Guaranteed 

😂😂😂

[PAPalmtrees]

22 minutes ago, GregVirginia7 said:

Yes…I’d say a later 2025 planting would have to be protected, especially in this kind of extended freeze. Establishment is everything with these palms and that takes a few years for sure. All the best this winter.

Exactly. I was gonna let it go unprotected if the winter was mild but Then I notice how long this cold was gonna be and I knew the best thing to do was to protect it. It was planted In end of August

[Cody Salem]

11 hours ago, SeanK said:

Boy, I'm sure glad the NWS predicted a warm, La Niña winter.

Out here in Oregon it's been warm.  I'm at the same latitude as the Vermont/Canada boarder, and last week was our first freeze of the year.  No rain for 3 weeks and the temps have been in the 60's up in the mountains, above the fog inversion.  The few ski areas are able to open are only operating about 25% of their lifts.    

Garden looks good though.  A couple of pics from last week.

The famous Mt. Hood from a few weeks ago.  There should be 5-10 ft of snow at this time.

[Silas_Sancona]

24 minutes ago, Cody Salem said:

Out here in Oregon it's been warm.  I'm at the same latitude as the Vermont/Canada boarder, and last week was our first freeze of the year.  No rain for 3 weeks and the temps have been in the 60's up in the mountains, above the fog inversion.  The few ski areas are able to open are only operating about 25% of their lifts.    

Garden looks good though.  A couple of pics from last week.

The famous Mt. Hood from a few weeks ago.  There should be 5-10 ft of snow at this time.

Yep..   Not even close to a " bad " winter down here   ..Unless you like / are tracking snow.. 

Only spot with " good " snow cover atm? ( 99% of current avrg. ) top of the San Francisco peaks just north of Flagstaff..  Central and S. Sierra would be the only other spot w/ decent snow cover atm. 

With the exception of a few spots in far N. UT,  MT and ...maybe.. WY Snow pack in every other CO. River basin area tracked by the drought monitor / various water - related agencies is sitting below 50%  ..if not below 30%.

With a warm start to Feb in the forecasts,  expect what little snowpack is around to shrink,  at least here in AZ. 

December '25 was the warmest December in history locally.   January may also reach that spot, esp if the rest of the weeks'  highs reach / exceed the current forests of upper 70s to about 81F. 

If it doesn't take the #1 spot?  Jan will likely come in 3rd warmest,  per what was discussed this evening via the news..

We'll see what happens in February  but,  ..would be surprised if it  doesn't  follow a similar trajectory as the last two months..



From a cold standpoint:  " Worst "  ..or at least not- so- great  Winter,   ...once the season has wrapped up?   ..Debatable east of the Rockies.   Not even close west of the divide. 



Pretty wild to see so much bare ground on Mt. Hood during the " coldest "  ...and supposedly..  snowiest  part of a winter season. 


 

[HudsonBill]

12 hours ago, jwitt said:

In a month or two, we will read about the "warmest winter on record".

Guaranteed 

Tahts what I've been saying. They will try and tell us not to believe our eyes. 

[SeanK]

6 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Yep..   Not even close to a " bad " winter down here   ..Unless you like / are tracking snow.. 

Only spot with " good " snow cover atm? ( 99% of current avrg. ) top of the San Francisco peaks just north of Flagstaff..  Central and S. Sierra would be the only other spot w/ decent snow cover atm. 

With the exception of a few spots in far N. UT,  MT and ...maybe.. WY Snow pack in every other CO. River basin area tracked by the drought monitor / various water - related agencies is sitting below 50%  ..if not below 30%.

With a warm start to Feb in the forecasts,  expect what little snowpack is around to shrink,  at least here in AZ. 

December '25 was the warmest December in history locally.   January may also reach that spot, esp if the rest of the weeks'  highs reach / exceed the current forests of upper 70s to about 81F. 

If it doesn't take the #1 spot?  Jan will likely come in 3rd warmest,  per what was discussed this evening via the news..

We'll see what happens in February  but,  ..would be surprised if it  doesn't  follow a similar trajectory as the last two months..



From a cold standpoint:  " Worst "  ..or at least not- so- great  Winter,   ...once the season has wrapped up?   ..Debatable east of the Rockies.   Not even close west of the divide. 



Pretty wild to see so much bare ground on Mt. Hood during the " coldest "  ...and supposedly..  snowiest  part of a winter season. 


 

That bodes bad for the summer when folks need the reservoirs full.

[GregVirginia7]

22 hours ago, Allen said:

What are the lows?  Below 8F you'll get quite a bit of Trachy frond damage

Hey @Allen…I meant to ask how the storm treated your region. Were you able to keep your electricity? I know you are an excellent protector but a loss of electricity can cause problems. Hope everything is ok…

[Palmerr]

Forecast for me should start uptrending, and the slightly above freezing temps forecasted will probably be around 35F when it arrives. But yeah good I didn’t get anything less cold hardy in the ground already or oof they wouldn’t have done good. Haven’t seen sub freezing for this long ever besides… the dreaded 2025 month long cold event. UV index is high so my greenhouse is heating up quite nicely heater actually turned off and stopped drawing power so that’s good it’s starting to heat up enough to turn it off again. Overall very cold sub freezing for awhile but the greenhouse doing good😎

[Cody Salem]

21 hours ago, Silas_Sancona said:

Yep..   Not even close to a " bad " winter down here   ..Unless you like / are tracking snow.. 

Only spot with " good " snow cover atm? ( 99% of current avrg. ) top of the San Francisco peaks just north of Flagstaff..  Central and S. Sierra would be the only other spot w/ decent snow cover atm. 

With the exception of a few spots in far N. UT,  MT and ...maybe.. WY Snow pack in every other CO. River basin area tracked by the drought monitor / various water - related agencies is sitting below 50%  ..if not below 30%.

With a warm start to Feb in the forecasts,  expect what little snowpack is around to shrink,  at least here in AZ. 

December '25 was the warmest December in history locally.   January may also reach that spot, esp if the rest of the weeks'  highs reach / exceed the current forests of upper 70s to about 81F. 

If it doesn't take the #1 spot?  Jan will likely come in 3rd warmest,  per what was discussed this evening via the news..

We'll see what happens in February  but,  ..would be surprised if it  doesn't  follow a similar trajectory as the last two months..



From a cold standpoint:  " Worst "  ..or at least not- so- great  Winter,   ...once the season has wrapped up?   ..Debatable east of the Rockies.   Not even close west of the divide. 



Pretty wild to see so much bare ground on Mt. Hood during the " coldest "  ...and supposedly..  snowiest  part of a winter season. 


 

 

14 hours ago, SeanK said:

That bodes bad for the summer when folks need the reservoirs full.

The west coast is actually right about average for rainfall, remember all the flooding back in December?  It's just been warm so it's all come down as rain.   Historically we usually get a big dump in April/May on these dry years that brings it close to average when summer begins.

[Silas_Sancona]

8 minutes ago, Cody Salem said:

 

The west coast is actually right about average for rainfall, remember all the flooding back in December?  It's just been warm so it's all come down as rain.   Historically we usually get a big dump in April/May on these dry years that brings it close to average when summer begins.

True..  Good catch.     December definitely helped,  and will likely save the season for most areas.  CA is doing ..ok.. also,  also due to December's storms.  

Even if it stays dry there now - April, most of the major reservoirs in CA are in good shape atm so, no worries regarding water issues this upcoming summer. 








 

[ZPalms]

IVE HAD ENOUGHHHHHH!!!! I'm gonna need these temperatures to start going back up!

[Las Palmas Norte]

18 hours ago, SeanK said:

That bodes bad for the summer when folks need the reservoirs full.

They're at capacity now, at least here. Much of the the Pacific states have had copious amounts of rain prior the the recent high pressure system. Snow skiers are a bit bummed out. 

 

On 1/27/2026 at 8:00 PM, Cody Salem said:

Garden looks good though.  A couple of pics from last week

My Musa basjoo has frosted leaves after light frosts. The pseudo stems still stand strong. I still think there's a chance at some cold weather before spring.