New Florida Winter Outlook

[gsytch]

Yes. Actually, depending on which forecast I look at, I will get cold with a frost, or just stay chilly near 40F. I think cloud cover and jet stream is making the forecast difficult. I live about a mile off the coast, which will help me, but it already in the 30's north of here this morning. I had 45F at wakeup and 48F now. Still too cold for March!

[Shirleypalmpaws]

Got back from the FIT Botanical Fest, checked weather underground again, and again we're back up to 43 for tonight! Woooohooo! Of course any minute now it's gonna go back down or something, holey buckets whadda roller coaster the prediction temps are.

At 8 am, I went straight to the CFPACS setup at the Botanical Fest, signed up for a three year membership....met Lucinda, whom I fell in love with her...she is that endearing, also met a fella named Chuck and another fella named Richard. What good people these people are. They totally understood my inner palm freak. lol.

I bought on R. hildebrandtii, one zombia x coccothrinax (hoping it's an old man!!!! 'cuz that would be a hoot!)...guess what I passed up....a coccothrinax borhidiana (I think that's what it was), because I was too scared by my lack of knowledge and experience!.....next went over to mbpalm's booth and bought one Chamaerops humilis var. argentea (been wanting something blue). Those mbpalm people are super nice, too.

Weather Underground still showing 43 for lows, as of right now.

[amazondk]

The low for Great Falls, Montana is forecast at 38F tonight. That is not a lot different from many parts of Florida. I will only be in Fort Lauderdale for tomorrow night and then back to the equator where the forcast low for Monday evening 4 March is rain with a low of 72 F. Nothing new there. At least the daytime temperatures are stil cool ranging in the mid to upper 80s F.

dk

[PalmatierMeg]

Predicted low here has dropped to 44F with rain off/on through noon tomorrow. I know from experience that one thing palms hate worse than cold is rainy cold. Highs aren't expected to top low 60s. Not good.

[gsytch]

Never hit 60F here with some showers this AM. Windy all day. The breezes have kept up tonight, so that NW wind is keeping temps up in the 50;s right now. Definitely one of the chilliest March days I have experienced, and tomorrow "ain't no picnic" either. Spring please come.

[sarasota alex]

The low for this morning was supposed to be 40F according to NWS. It's after 1AM and still 54. I think we are going to be OK. Don't think we'll get anywhere below 45F.

[sonoranfans]

The low for this morning was supposed to be 40F according to NWS. It's after 1AM and still 54. I think we are going to be OK. Don't think we'll get anywhere below 45F.

Wind coming off the water(WNW) is keeping it warmer. It is helping that the gulf never really cooled off this winter...

[Shirleypalmpaws]

4:30am 44, 5:30am 43, 6:30am 43. Not too bad, but at this moment weather underground is predicting 39 for tonight....I'm hoping it's gonna be better than expected

[PalmatierMeg]

Predicted overnight low = 44F Actual low = 42.4F Yikes! I think tonight is going to be worse.

[sonoranfans]

wind direction is everything. last night wind direction changed from WNW to N at 2AM and temps plunged from 53 to 46F within an hour and settled at 42F low. Hoping for a westerly wind tonight...

[PalmatierMeg]

High was 57F at 1:45. Forecast low = 42F

[Trópico]

My low was 37F last night. Tonight at 8:30PM is as cold as last night at 11:30PM at 44F, and with 11 hours to go and less wind, I'm not sure how tonight is going to be warmer than last night.

[gsytch]

My current wind is WNW and stiff 10mph. 48.6F if this wind stays up then no problem. If it dies like last night (it died some and turned somewhat N) then it will fall. Highest today was 53F, and while there was some sun here and there - it was mostly overcast. Let the warmup begin!

[Walt]

My low last night was 37 degrees. The official low last night at the Sebring, Florida, FAWN site (8 miles north of my location) reported 38.12 degrees and a high of 59.40 degrees today. The current FAWN temperature at 9:15 p.m. is 45.27 degrees. Last night at 9:15 p.m. it was 46.53 degrees. Hopefully, tonight's low won't be more than a degree or two lower than last night's based on the afore temperature differences. But I don't know, as the dew point keeps dropping. Right now the dew point is 34.74 degrees.

I've had two lows this winter of 32 degrees in the open yard (moderate frost the first time and light frost the second time), which caused only cosmetic damage to my Tibouchina shrubs and bananas. I would be pleased if I can stay at or above 32 degrees in the open yard.

[Trópico]

What was wrong with the forecast? It's 1:15 AM and I'm sitting at 35°F. I think wunderground was right after all, one week ago! They were not kidding when they said 28°F... We're heading rapidly down that way. Gotta go and cover what I can.

[sonoranfans]

once again the wind shifted abruptly from WNW to N by NE at 4am and temps drop from 50F to 43F in 1 hr 40 mins, falling fast. Glad the wind kept the temps up while it did. Once again being within 10 miles of the water only helps apparently when the wind is blowing in the right direction. And the warm winter and the resulting warm gulf water this year apparently helped keep temps up.

[gsytch]

Just enough wind at my location to prevent freezing. Winds died and temp dropped overnight. It is 37.2F right now, 39.0F an hour ago. Just made it through this one. If the winds died sooner it could have been a lot colder. Enough cold??? Another cold shot Wed/Thur - although not as cold- then warming. I have not even begun the spring fertilizing as its been too cold. Let us hope that sun goes to work today!

[SubTropicRay]

It was a balmy 44F here at 6AM.

[Shirleypalmpaws]

3:30am we were at 42, and at 4 & 5 it was 41, 6am 40, but at dawn it went to 39. At this time it is back up to 40. I went out and saw a smattering of patchy frost on the roof. I was surprised to see a light layer of what looked to be a sort of frost on the very top part of our neighbor's car. No frost on ground that I could see, and no frosties at all on any of our birdbaths. But it's so chilly I vote for the change of the name of our county to Brrrrrrrr-vard.

[Jason in Orlando]

Twenty nine baby!

[Xerarch]

I saw a few sub-freezing temps in the Tampa area on the Wundermap, especially inland from there.

[sonoranfans]

bottomed at 41.4F, 59F and rising fast now... very strange sudden drop at 4AM from 50F to 42 by 6am with that change from a WNW to northern breeze...

[Trópico]

30.5°F at around 5 AM. Not bad, lets me keep the 10A winter, but upset that there was no reliable forecast that prevented me from executing my freeze plan at 1 AM. I saw some high 20s in Kissimmee and west of me.The OIA registered about 30 degrees as well.

Bananas have to start all over again for a third time. Brugs are OK, the royal got spotted but recovering. The Cabadae has already patches of brown from two weeks ago, so no new damage.

[PalmatierMeg]

Forecast low was 42F. Actual low = 43.3.

Brief warm-up tomorrow then back to nightly 40s. With every cold front that hits I ask, "Is this the last?" So far, no. I'm getting tired of this rollercoaster ride.

[palmsOrl]

I do not currently have a high/low thermometer, so I am not sure what it actually bottomed out at at my place this morning. It is interesting that they are reporting the low at OIA this morning at 30F, yet on Wunderground hourly observations it indicates the low was 30.9F (I would round this to 31F, not 30F). Meanwhile, in the city the Exec Airport stayed relatively toasty with a low of 37F.

[spockvr6]

40.9F in Palm Harbor. The last few cold nights have been enough to make a mutli trunked potted Veitchia look a tad ratty, but no damage to anything else yet.

[spockvr6]

I do not currently have a high/low thermometer, so I am not sure what it actually bottomed out at at my place this morning. It is interesting that they are reporting the low at OIA this morning at 30F, yet on Wunderground hourly observations it indicates the low was 30.9F (I would round this to 31F, not 30F). Meanwhile, in the city the Exec Airport stayed relatively toasty with a low of 37F.

Its just rounding between the C and F conversions I believe. Ive noticed the same.

30F is a bit odd for Orlando as that is about the same as Brooksville (which is the notorious central FL icebox)....must have been wind direction (which is the problem for any areas inland, and even some areas that are not inland).

[Bill H2DB]

Looks like 32.0 officially at the Daytona Beach Airport, which is not representative of most of

the area,( as most airports are not) .

35.5 at my backyard , approx 440 ft west of the ICW. NW breeze all night ,now slowly coming

around to NNE in the PM .

[Eric in Orlando]

The 30F at OIA is very odd. Only 39F here at Leu Gardens and 35F at my girlfriends to the north in west Altamonte Springs. She is usually in a cold pocket.

[sonoranfans]

The 30F at OIA is very odd. Only 39F here at Leu Gardens and 35F at my girlfriends to the north in west Altamonte Springs. She is usually in a cold pocket.

was the 39F at Leu out in the open? this did look like a cold that would be notably warmer under canopy...

[Xerarch]

I do not currently have a high/low thermometer, so I am not sure what it actually bottomed out at at my place this morning. It is interesting that they are reporting the low at OIA this morning at 30F, yet on Wunderground hourly observations it indicates the low was 30.9F (I would round this to 31F, not 30F). Meanwhile, in the city the Exec Airport stayed relatively toasty with a low of 37F.

Remember that when you're looking at the Wunderground hourly, or every 15 minutes, or whatever time period is posted, the temperature listed is the temperature that was being reported in that moment. The low temperature, 30F must have happened between intervals since the lowest temp shown is 30.9 which obviously is more like 31, not 30 like you said. I think that is the most logical explanation, I too, have noticed this a number of times on Wunderground.

Edited March 4, 2013 by Xerarch

[gsytch]

Its a cold one tonight, too. Clear skies, calm conditions, dry air = quick drops. I suspect frost thru N and E Tampa Bay for tonight, and possibly inland Central FL. I figured as much, and put the greenhouse heater on before sunset. It appears after this next cold shot, a nice warmup begins that lasts. YES! Spring will be here, and with daylight savings, we get an extra hour in the evening to get yard work done.

[PalmatierMeg]

Overnight low = 48.0F

We get a very brief respite tonight (forecast 62F) then back down to 45F the following two nights. After that, more seasonable lows - for now.

[Trópico]

Surprisingly Orlando was warmer than many areas around. Last night we were sitting in the high 40's for a while, in the meantime places like Tampa, St. Pete, Melbourne were showing low 40's and even high 30s. We caught up with them and by 5:00 AM our low was about 39°F, both at home and at the OIA. By some strange coincidence my thermometer is matching exactly the OIA, no surprise that the record of 31°F was broken two nights ago at 30°F, the same low I got.

[SubTropicRay]

7 days into March and I've had 40's for 6 of those nights. When is March going to stop acting like January?!

[PalmatierMeg]

Agree. Six of last 7 nights fell into 40s. This morning's low was 46.2. Forecast low for tomorrow morning is 45F. I've had potted palms on my sun room for a week and they are getting cranky.

[SubTropicRay]

I've had potted plants in our living room for a week and my wife is getting cranky.

[gsytch]

I'm getting CRANKY! This is way too cold. Today never made it above 60F with a stiff west wind off 60F waters! Tonight will be COLD with light winds and clear skies. Frost inland N and E of Tampa Bay. But, beginning tomorrow spring arrives. 80F or so from Sunday thru next week means winter should go away for good. Now, we need rain!

[PalmatierMeg]

I'm reminded of my birthplace and old stomping ground, the Washington DC area. No spring, no autumn. Just winter to summer and back to winter.

I'm really getting tired of this. I'm no longer used to being cooped up indoors for days & days at a time.

[Walt]

I'm reminded of my birthplace and old stomping ground, the Washington DC area. No spring, no autumn. Just winter to summer and back to winter.

I'm really getting tired of this. I'm no longer used to being cooped up indoors for days & days at a time.

No way! Surely you exagerate!

I lived in the D.C. area for 49 years (less my four years military time). We had beautiful springtimes (cherry blossoms, dogwoods, tulip magnolia, all kinds of flowering shrubs, daffodills. Fall had beautiful maple and oak tree foliage. My Japanese maples were stunning, with red leaves in spring and again in fall. Springtime up north is far more dramatic and invigorating than down here.

That being said, I sure don't miss the cold and the ice and snow and the problem it caused me driving into work (D.C.) everyday. A 55 degree high day up north in winter was fabulous; a 55 degree day down here feels bone chilling. And like you, I love being able to get out almost everyday of the year and not being cooped up.