What is your current yard temperature?

[Arecaceus]

5 hours ago, UK_Palms said:

@Foxpalms You were right about BBC and Met Office overstating the lows. I had -4C / -5C forecast for me here, yet my lowest was only -2C / 28F at about 10pm. Despite the clear skies all night, the temperature actually rose as the night progressed. It was up to 1C / 34F come sunrise. I was pleasantly surprised. It looks like a lot of places, including central/eastern London, remained frost free last night. Also further to Tyrone’s comment, there are Rhopalostylis on the Isle of Wight, including at Ventnor Botanic Garden, which I missed the last time I visited. There are some growing in private gardens as well.

It’s currently 6.1C / 43F here at 3pm, which is about 3C below average. I can’t wait for the milder Atlantic westerlies to return though. Hopefully it will change next week, although there is talk of a continuation of the high pressure and arctic airflow. It’s looking below average well into next week now.

There is a threat of a serious cold outbreak across Europe next week, although this isn’t guaranteed. France and Spain could be hit particularly hard however. One to watch!

Before the polar low pressure system arrived, there was already talk about a high pressure system bridge with 3 high pressure system accros continental Europe. One on the Iberian peninsula, one over central Europe and one over Eastern Europe. Except for that it's really crazy, because right now we also see the effects of global warming, not only because of the polar low pressure system but also because the past couple of days and upcoming days the cold would've been waaaaaaaay more severe. The air from the North and the East just isn't so cold anymore. Most time of this winter Eastern Europe has been exceptionally warm. Have you seen how warm Moscow stayed, compared to normal winters there? It's incredible!

[Foxpalms]

10 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Before the polar low pressure system arrived, there was already talk about a high pressure system bridge with 3 high pressure system accros continental Europe. One on the Iberian peninsula, one over central Europe and one over Eastern Europe. Except for that it's really crazy, because right now we also see the effects of global warming, not only because of the polar low pressure system but also because the past couple of days and upcoming days the cold would've been waaaaaaaay more severe. The air from the North and the East just isn't so cold anymore. Most time of this winter Eastern Europe has been exceptionally warm. Have you seen how warm Moscow stayed, compared to normal winters there? It's incredible!

That's what I think if in December we had the worst case scenario and only saw 28-30f in central London then there's and it's only getting warmer that's a good sign for palm growers. It's also funny when people from other countries visit here in the summer since most of them didn't expect to arrive to dry, dusty, sandy ground with all the grass brown because "London rains all the time". When I flew from London Heathrow to Barcelona in July the ground was actually significantly drier in London. The winds this week have been really strange they keep changing direction.  Next week looks milder. Some photos of Heathrow compared to Barcelona in July.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Arecaceus]

3 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

That's what I think if in December we had the worst case scenario and only saw 28-30f in central London then there's and it's only getting warmer that's a good sign for palm growers. It's also funny when people from other countries visit here in the summer since most of them didn't expect to arrive to dry, dusty, sandy ground with all the grass brown because "London rains all the time". The winds this week have been really strange they keep changing direction.  Next week looks milder.

I think what we got in February 2021 at least here was the worst case scenario and it got very cold but still, if we would have had the same constellation of weather patterns 10 to 15 years earlier, it would have gotten way colder. Yes I'm pretty happy with the forecast for next week too. I hope it'll stay that way also because it's supposed to get drier and plants that got damaged in December really need that. It's got drier since it's getting colder but yesterday we again had some good amount of rain in the evening. And yes I know what you mean. Same here and also Belgium and the Netherlands. People expect green meadows when everything starts to look more like a desert LOL. Last time I visited Kew in 2018 it was also dried out. And it's recurring. A couple of years ago you had only some drought sometimes, then you had some drough for prolonged times and now its starts to become the new normal. You also get used to all the sunshine so whenever there are a few cloudy days you feel like it's totally depressing. 20 years ago people in Western Europe were happy when there was a sunny dry phase in summer for the most part.

[Foxpalms]

16 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

I think what we got in February 2021 at least here was the worst case scenario and it got very cold but still, if we would have had the same constellation of weather patterns 10 to 15 years earlier, it would have gotten way colder. Yes I'm pretty happy with the forecast for next week too. I hope it'll stay that way also because it's supposed to get drier and plants that got damaged in December really need that. It's got drier since it's getting colder but yesterday we again had some good amount of rain in the evening. And yes I know what you mean. Same here and also Belgium and the Netherlands. People expect green meadows when everything starts to look more like a desert LOL. Last time I visited Kew in 2018 it was also dried out. And it's recurring. A couple of years ago you had only some drought sometimes, then you had some drough for prolonged times and now its starts to become the new normal. You also get used to all the sunshine so whenever there are a few cloudy days you feel like it's totally depressing. 20 years ago people in Western Europe were happy when there was a sunny dry phase in summer for the most part.

Here's a satellite photo from August 10th of how dry the UK was. You can see the blackish/grey color around London from all the fires. You can also see the clear rainfall difference between the west and the east of the UK. You definitely get used to all the sunshine, I hope this summer is as hot or hotter than last summer. I had people visiting from Barcelona about a week and a half before the 40c+ day when the temperatures was in the Low 30c's and around 20c at night and they said it felt hotter in London than Barcelona. I have AC and the majority of shops do in London so it wasn't that the house was hot or anything. The reason for that is probably because there's not as much shade here whilst walking around Barcelona there's plenty of palms and trees planted along the pavements.

Edited January 20, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Arecaceus]

12 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Here's a satellite photo from August 10th of how dry the UK was. You can see the blackish/grey color around London from all the fires. You can also see the clear rainfall difference between the west and the east of the UK. You definitely get used to all the sunshine, I hope this summer is as hot or hotter than last summer. I had people visiting from Barcelona about a week and a half before the 40c+ day when the temperatures was in the Low 30c's and around 20c at night and they said it felt hotter in London than Barcelona. I have AC and the majority of shops do in London so it wasn't that the house was hot or anything. The reason for that is probably because there's not as much shade here whilst walking around Barcelona there's plenty of palms and trees planted along the pavements.

Lol I also wanted to post a pic but I couldn't find it. It was a sattelite picture of the Rhineland area where live in summer of 2018/2019/2022? I can't remember when exactly but it looked like spain or something. While climate change isn't the best thing in general, it has its positive sites for us in the Northern latitudes and people who love exotic plantings on the other hand I get that we need to do everything to save what we can, but imo there is still too much talk about STOPPING climate change instead of living with it. It's unstoppable. We can slow it down by a small margin but it's a chainreaction that has already been started. So now for example the city is telling people to help watering the trees in the city because they are all suffering and a lot are already dead but then they replant the same species that can't handle drought or too much heat which can both be even more excessive next to roads. So why not plant Eucalyptus for example? Or palm trees? And I really mean for a practical reason! Eucalyptus are unbreakable, they can handle every drought, they are fast growing and they are easy to prune. There are already a lot of Eucalyptus out here but all planted privately. Not by the city. Palm trees as well. We have some Trachys planted by the city many years ago all around the city but not for that reason and not next to the road mostly. Washingtonias and other palms would be so easy to handle because they're so tough in such conditions and many palm tree species can be left alone they don't need to be pruned, They just start to skirt and that's it.

[Foxpalms]

3 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Lol I also wanted to post a pic but I couldn't find it. It was a sattelite picture of the Rhineland area where live in summer of 2018/2019/2022? I can't remember when exactly but it looked like spain or something. While climate change isn't the best thing in general, it has its positive sites for us in the Northern latitudes and people who love exotic plantings on the other hand I get that we need to do everything to save what we can, but imo there is still too much talk about STOPPING climate change instead of living with it. It's unstoppable. We can slow it down by a small margin but it's a chainreaction that has already been started. So now for example the city is telling people to help watering the trees in the city because they are all suffering and a lot are already dead but then they replant the same species that can't handle drought or too much heat which can both be even more excessive next to roads. So why not plant Eucalyptus for example? Or palm trees? And I really mean for a practical reason! Eucalyptus are unbreakable, they can handle every drought, they are fast growing and they are easy to prune. There are already a lot of Eucalyptus out here but all planted privately. Not by the city. Palm trees as well. We have some Trachys planted by the city many years ago all around the city but not for that reason and not next to the road mostly. Washingtonias and other palms would be so easy to handle because they're so tough in such conditions and many palm tree species can be left alone they don't need to be pruned, They just start to skirt and that's it.

That's what I said in July. There is talk of planting more trees in London because of the hotter summers but to no suprise it was native species not eucalyptus or other drought tolerant plants such as jacaranda mimosifolia or Delonix regia. Personally I think they need to line the streets with Washingtonia escpially robusta since it has a smaller foot print. Then have phoenix canariensis in areas with more space and eucalyptus for shade. If the council's don't plant them I'll do it then I'm considering planting some around London. If you look at my posts in July on this thread you can see how many times I was discussing this. They should also plant some more Norfolk Island pines in central London since they clearly do well and they are one of the nicest looking trees. I can also guarantee that if they lined the south coast with palms if would increase tourism because it would feel more like going on vacation for people coming from up north. So many people are so focused on trying to stop it rather than accepting it and adapting for it ect. We are not going to get colder so they may as well try and embrace the positive effects of it and plant palms! It would also be nice to see more bougainvillea in London as well. I have seen the council's plant bananas in recent years but only Musa basjoo and enste.

[sandgroper]

Currently 26c at 7.00am heading for a top of 39c.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Arecaceus]

18 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

That's what I said in July. There is talk of planting more trees in London because of the hotter summers but to no suprise it was native species not eucalyptus or other drought tolerant plants such as jacaranda mimosifolia or Delonix regia. Personally I think they need to line the streets with Washingtonia escpially robusta since it has a smaller foot print. Then have phoenix canariensis in areas with more space and eucalyptus for shade. If the council's don't plant them I'll do it then I'm considering planting some around London. If you look at my posts in July on this thread you can see how many times I was discussing this. They should also plant some more Norfolk Island pines in central London since they clearly do well and they are one of the nicest looking trees. I can also guarantee that if they lined the south coast with palms if would increase tourism because it would feel more like going on vacation for people coming from up north. So many people are so focused on trying to stop it rather than accepting it and adapting for it ect. We are not going to get colder so they may as well try and embrace the positive effects of it and plant palms! It would also be nice to see more bougainvillea in London as well. I have seen the council's plant bananas in recent years but only Musa basjoo and enste.

Yup. But many people still think that all of those exotics are not growing here (I mean it depends on species and place, but you know what I mean). But they don't realise that many things are not growing here ANYMORE at least longterm without special treatment like watering or shade from other plants above. A Washingtonia robusta would make more sense long term even in slightly colder areas than central London than something native (which most stuff as such considered isn't anyways but ...) which dies every year or second because of the heat and drouht. Especially roadside plantings need to be tougher in those conditions than cold. It would be practical AND beautiful. But I think in Europe (less so in the South but still) the look of public plantings is never so important as it is in the US for example. And there still seems to be (and this is not a joke I really mean it) like some sort of plant racism. 😂 There are a lot of (especially older) people who think that Eucalyptus and all other southern exotics don't belong here and that "native" plants should be planted. Also a discussion I had many many times. Most people don't realise that almost everything we are planting in Western Europe isn't native. It doesn't make sense at all.

[Foxpalms]

3 minutes ago, Hortulanus said:

Yup. But many people still think that all of those exotics are not growing here (I mean it depends on species and place, but you know what I mean). But they don't realise that many things are not growing here ANYMORE at least longterm without special treatment like watering or shade from other plants above. A Washingtonia robusta would make more sense long term even in slightly colder areas than central London than something native (which most stuff as such considered isn't anyways but ...) which dies every year or second because of the heat and drouht. Especially roadside plantings need to be tougher in those conditions than cold. It would be practical AND beautiful. But I think in Europe (less so in the South but still) the look of public plantings is never so important as it is in the US for example. And there still seems to be (and this is not a joke I really mean it) like some sort of plant racism. 😂 There are a lot of (especially older) people who think that Eucalyptus and all other southern exotics don't belong here and that "native" plants should be planted. Also a discussion I had many many times. Most people don't realise that almost everything we are planting in Western Europe isn't native. It doesn't make sense at all.

Even in the coldest parts of north west London when driving through there I haven't seen a single Washingtonia that looks dead. I definitely agree that people in Europe don't put as much effort into making sure plantings look nice compared to the USA. Very occasionally councils here plant things such as butia, phoenix canariensis, jubaea.and Trachycarpus. Personally I would be happy to never see a Trachycarpus fortunei again in London especially central London. It's probably my least favourite looking palm so I'm not sure why it's popular with councils they actually don't do to well here because they don't get watered enough in the summer and end up looking like dehydrated sticks.  Even on the Scilly isles zone 10b there aren't many palms planted by the councils when they could easily line the streets with howea forsteriana Rhopalostylis and archontophoenix. I'm sure where you are it's probably easier for people to never see a palm if they aren't looking, however here you have to be blind to not see palms there's so many palms. I've walked down roads before and seen 15 phoenix canariensis on the same road. It's also pretty hard to miss 20ft+ Washingtonia and phoenix canariensis. I know what you mean by certain elderly people don't like the idea of tropical plants, personally I think at least in London though most people don't care whether there are palms are not.

[GottmitAlex]

I am no fan of washies. However, this one is remarkable for where it is. 

But I digress.

Jan/20/2023

3:50 PM PST 

20c

 

 

 

[Arecaceus]

18 minutes ago, GottmitAlex said:

I am no fan of washies. However, this one is remarkable for where it is. 

But I digress.

Jan/20/2023

3:50 PM PST 

20c

 

 

 

There are a lot of great specimens even in the UK but we'd like to have them more as common street planting by cities (or other drought tolerant palms that are hardy to certain region). In the US they are like Trachys in Europe.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Hortulanus

[Arecaceus]

17 minutes ago, Foxpalms said:

Even in the coldest parts of north west London when driving through there I haven't seen a single Washingtonia that looks dead. I definitely agree that people in Europe don't put as much effort into making sure plantings look nice compared to the USA. Very occasionally councils here plant things such as butia, phoenix canariensis, jubaea.and Trachycarpus. Personally I would be happy to never see a Trachycarpus fortunei again in London especially central London. It's probably my least favourite looking palm so I'm not sure why it's popular with councils they actually don't do to well here because they don't get watered enough in the summer and end up looking like dehydrated sticks.  Even on the Scilly isles zone 10b there aren't many palms planted by the councils when they could easily line the streets with howea forsteriana Rhopalostylis and archontophoenix. I'm sure where you are it's probably easier for people to never see a palm if they aren't looking, however here you have to be blind to not see palms there's so many palms. I've walked down roads before and seen 15 phoenix canariensis on the same road. It's also pretty hard to miss 20ft+ Washingtonia and phoenix canariensis. I know what you mean by certain elderly people don't like the idea of tropical plants, personally I think at least in London though most people don't care whether there are palms are not.

You see a lot of palms nowadays around here but not as many as London has or England in general but I think one of the main reasons is that England has a great garden culture. Gardening isn't so appreciated as it is in the UK even decreasingly so. And I think except for people with urban gardening lifestyle who grow vegetables on their roof and people who want to be trendy and get a palm tree they usually don't care too much especially in big cities. But I think the average person is not the issue but rather the people who are in charge of city planing and planting it has also gotten worse over the years in general. The city is not spending much money on pruning and cleaning in general. There are sometimes trees that started out as weeds growing in front of road signs or some that already bend crash barriers. They don't plant anything new, they just replace stuff that has dried out and only come around once a year to cut everything down. But at the same time they are talking about making the city greener and more environmental friendly. I feel like they just don't care. And it's not like there is no money. They just don't spend it. Our city is relatively rich.

[UK_Palms]

Barely holding up above freezing here at midnight under the clear skies. Currently 1.1C / 34F. I will go down to at least -2C / 28F come sunrise. We're in the bowels of winter now.

 

London temps aren't much warmer at midnight, although the UHI will hold up better as the night goes on. My temperature will plummet where I am however.

 

That area I have mentioned before on the east coast of Kent, around the Ramsgate-Broadstairs-Margate bit (50 miles east of London), is holding up unbelievably again. A reliably solid 5C / 43F still at midnight, despite the cold snap/freeze. No surprise that area is loaded with CIDP and Washingtonia.

 

Cornwall no surprise is comfortably mild, apart from the inland, high elevation moors. Widely 7-8C / 45-46F in the populated coastal areas.

 

The Scilly Isles are holding out at 10C / 50F at midnight during a UK-wide cold snap. That is just ridiculous. 8-9C warmer than my location here. They are a good 6-7C warmer than central London tonight. 2-3C warmer than the south coast of Cornwall too. The islands are pretty much subtropical. The Tresco station appears to be down though tonight.

[GottmitAlex]

3 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

Barely holding up above freezing here at midnight under the clear skies. Currently 1.1C / 34F. I will go down to at least -2C / 28F come sunrise. We're in the bowels of winter now.

 

London temps aren't much warmer at midnight, although the UHI will hold up better as the night goes on. My temperature will plummet where I am however.

 

That area I have mentioned before on the east coast of Kent, around the Ramsgate-Broadstairs-Margate bit (50 miles east of London), is holding up unbelievably again. A reliably solid 5C / 43F still at midnight, despite the cold snap/freeze. No surprise that area is loaded with CIDP and Washingtonia.

 

Cornwall no surprise is comfortably mild, apart from the inland, high elevation moors. Widely 7-8C / 45-46F in the populated coastal areas.

 

The Scilly Isles are holding out at 10C / 50F at midnight during a UK-wide cold snap. That is just ridiculous. 8-9C warmer than my location here. They are a good 6-7C warmer than central London tonight. 2-3C warmer than the south coast of Cornwall too. The islands are pretty much subtropical. The Tresco station appears to be down though tonight.

Keep us abreast 

[Foxpalms]

Low here was 35f last night. The Scilly isles and Cornwall had cloud cover and also winds from the south whilst we had north westerly winds and clear skies.

Edited January 21, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Arecaceus]

0°C at 11 a.m.. It's still cold but despite the clear skies most of the night it didn't get THAT cold. We had a predicted -4 at the weather station and clear skies plus slight frost already at 9 p.m. yesterday. The prediction was -4°C in the early morning WITH cloud cover but on the radar there were no clouds comming towards us so I already got a bit nervous but then it stayed just around 0°C most of the night and it cooled down to -1°C/-1.5°C going up and down all night. Finally bottomed out at -2.5°C in my garden. I also only measured -3.1°C next to the ground. Today I really noticed once again how much of a difference not only the UHI effect can make but also microclimate within the UHI. When I went to the car this morning my car was covered in frost. Temperature in the car said -1°C. I parked my car on an open parking space next to a cemetery last yesterday. I only drove about 30 to 40m to see that none of the cars parked next to the road in front of the houses had ANY frost on them. NONE! Same with lawns when I was driving around. Only the exposed open grass fields had some frost on them. Anything else had none. The forecast looks like the whole day is just above freezing with only up to 2°C but it's not getting much colder at night either so it's alright.

[RyManUtah]

Steady band of moisture has cleared out to clear, cold skies. -1c. Sunrise temp was -4c (24 and some change F).  High should only be in the 40s (8c) today. 

[UK_Palms]

It didn't get quite as cold as I expected last night, only going down to -2.5C / 27F here eventually. Daytime recovery boosted the temperatures back up to 6.6C / 44F here today due to the clear, sunny skies. I will pay the price for that again tonight however with another bad radiation frost under clear skies. No wind tonight either, which will make it worse.

 

I'm getting smashed here out in the country this far inland with no UHI. It will probably be my coldest night during this 7-10 day 'cold' spell.

 

Chelsea in central London for comparison, with about 6C / 12F of UHI protection and probably also benefitting from the Thames river/estuary and being closer to the coast.

 

The 'Costa Del Kent' on the far southeast tip of England, just across the sea from Beligum/Netherlands, is pretty much looking frost free again there. Fantastic microclimate.

 

Crownshafts like Archontophoenix and Rhopalostylis will probably still be actively growing a bit in the Scilly Isles. It's looking like a 10b zone there despite a below average winter.

[Arecaceus]

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

It didn't get quite as cold as I expected last night, only going down to -2.5C / 27F here eventually. Daytime recovery boosted the temperatures back up to 6.6C / 44F here today due to the clear, sunny skies. I will pay the price for that again tonight however with another bad radiation frost under clear skies. No wind tonight either, which will make it worse.

 

I'm getting smashed here out in the country this far inland with no UHI. It will probably be my coldest night during this 7-10 day 'cold' spell.

 

Chelsea in central London for comparison, with about 6C / 12F of UHI protection and probably also benefitting from the Thames river/estuary and being closer to the coast.

 

The 'Costa Del Kent' on the far southeast tip of England, just across the sea from Beligum/Netherlands, is pretty much looking frost free again there. Fantastic microclimate.

 

Crownshafts like Archontophoenix and Rhopalostylis will probably still be actively growing a bit in the Scilly Isles. It's looking like a 10b zone there despite a below average winter.

Same last night here. Despite clear skies it didn't get below -2.5°C in the early morning. Not much warm up during the day though. But fortunately cloudy sky and still above freezing at almost 9 p.m..

[GottmitAlex]

[sandgroper]

Currently 27c at 7.30am heading for a top of 36c.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Foxpalms]

The high in London was 48f/8.9c with 58% humidity the sky was crystal clear all day. It was slightly colder in Kew and it definitely got colder the night before since they had frost and there was none here.

[UK_Palms]

3 hours ago, sandgroper said:

Currently 27c at 7.30am heading for a top of 36c.

Impressive that. I remember when it was 30C> before 9am here last July. I went up to 41C / 106F that day. I can’t wait for summer to return again here.

[Arecaceus]

2°C at 22:45 like all the other hours of the day. 2°C all day long and probably all night up until the early morning where it's supposed to go down to 1°C LOL. Last night it's been going up and down constantly between 0.3°C and 1.1°C. No frost occured, but some snowfall, which was melting right away. I measured -0.3°C on the ground.

[UK_Palms]

I'm getting absolutely pummelled again here. Down to -6.1C / 21F already and it's only 1am. Living out in the sticks near Guildford sucks.

 

London is getting smashed tonight as well. Still the warmest central areas of the city are running about 6-7C / 13F warmer than me here.

 

That area on the east coast of Kent around Margate-Broadstairs-Ramsgate is a solid 10a there. Possibly even 10b this winter, despite the freezes. They are only 85 miles east of me as the crow flies, yet they are 11C / 22F warmer than my location currently. I don't think they have gone below +1C / 34F there all winter, certainly along the immediate coastal area. That area has outperformed the Shanklin-Sandown-Ventnor region of the Isle of Wight for instance which is down to -1C / 30F at the time of writing this.

 

Coastal Cornwall also very mild, which is no surprise. The warmest spots are a staggering 15C / 30F warmer than my location right now. Southwest Cornwall is a solid zone 10a with some spots like Porthcurno coming in at 10b. The lowest being +1.5C / 35F this winter for them, despite the two big freezes affecting the UK.

[Foxpalms]

1 hour ago, UK_Palms said:

I'm getting absolutely pummelled again here. Down to -6.1C / 21F already and it's only 1am. Living out in the sticks near Guildford sucks.

 

London is getting smashed tonight as well. Still the warmest central areas of the city are running about 6-7C / 13F warmer than me here.

 

That area on the east coast of Kent around Margate-Broadstairs-Ramsgate is a solid 10a there. Possibly even 10b this winter, despite the freezes. They are only 85 miles east of me as the crow flies, yet they are 11C / 22F warmer than my location currently. I don't think they have gone below +1C / 34F there all winter, certainly along the immediate coastal area. That area has outperformed the Shanklin-Sandown-Ventnor region of the Isle of Wight for instance which is down to -1C / 30F at the time of writing this.

 

Coastal Cornwall also very mild, which is no surprise. The warmest spots are a staggering 15C / 30F warmer than my location right now. Southwest Cornwall is a solid zone 10a with some spots like Porthcurno coming in at 10b. The lowest being +1.5C / 35F this winter for them, despite the two big freezes affecting the UK.

Margate seems to get a lot more cloud than here that's the reason they are so much warmer tonight, still a good microclimate being a peninsula and Cornwall has southern winds whilst we had north easterly winds. Shanklin is looking pretty cold but ventnor is still +2c. The temperature here right now is 0c and it seems that every night we have had clear skies whilst elsewhere has had cloud cover. Hopefully during the summer that stays true. Margate may be a 10a but not this winter the low there this month is 25-28f depending on the weather station right next to the sea. Slightly further inland it's even colder.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Foxpalms

[Silas_Sancona]

A cool, clear, and breezy 46F after reaching 60 earlier..

For the moment, as the quick moving storm, currently sitting just east of St. George, UT. moves southeast across AZ overnight and tomorrow, looks like tomorrow may end up being the "coldest" day of winter 22/23 as we may struggle to reach the lower 50s, even under mainly clear skies a majority of the day.



While there is a freeze watch hoisted for the area for tomorrow night -at least.. ( have a feeling another might get issued for Wednesday Morning also), not really sold on seeing anything colder than we've already seen..  For one, lows for both mornings have come up since earlier forecasts, and been bouncing between 33-34 the last two days on all the major Wx sites.  At least for tomorrow night, there may be just enough mixing ...provided by lingering breezes behind the departing low tomorrow night to keep surface temps from really bottoming out, esp. in town. 

Rural and wind sheltered areas may see 28-30 though.. Tucson certainly could. They might see some flakes at some point tomorrow as some wrap around moisture lingers over S. AZ as this storm heads east.  That said, even at those temps, that wouldn't be that bad -if- that is the lowest lows they see for what is left of winter. As it stands for now, some spots down there might not break 32F ..We'll see how that pans out.

Regardless, at this point anyway, looking like temps start a slow moderation trend after Wednesday..  Sorry, no rushing of the transition toward spring-ish weather yet.


Additionally... Today's MJO "thoughts"..









Note that it has completely skipped moving into or through phase #2.   Based on how it has performed so far, not sold on it hanging around in #3 for as long as suggested in the above forecast thoughts atm either. Can see it being closer to entering phase #4, ...or headed back into neutral ( center circle ) by the 27th-28th, rather than closer to the start of... / after the start of Feb.


Posting the Composite map again, notice the suggested trend for phases 4-8, esp. here in the west. Note too the differences between the Feb./Mar./Apr. ( FMA ) map and the Jan./Feb/Mar ( JFM )..  Colder phases don't lean quite as chilly here, and phase #6 is a touch warmer for the west, compared the JFM map. 





**Reminder: Closer to the center the track of the MJO stays, the less influence on the weather pattern compared to a journey further into 1,2,3,4.

While there could be more rain / snow in store for CA - with maybe some bleed over for AZ / UT / NM sometime around the start of Feb., quite possible the main focus of the heaviest rainfall may stay more centered on far Nor. CA, rather than being more widespread, statewide events, and may shift -overall-  back into the Pac N.W. as we head toward mid- Feb. 

We'll see how that goes.

Honestly, here in the desert,  ...-AZ at least,- for the most part,  once we reach ~approx~ Feb. 15th, you can toss whatever might be left of "winter" in the trash, even if there might be a few more sub 40F mornings / quick, right-at-dawn frost on the roof / grass left in the tank for late Feb. / early-mid March.  Increasing sun angle will start influencing day time temps. shortly.  

Makes sense since the Annual Gem and Mineral show ( in Tucson ) runs roughly the period from this week, through Feb. 12th.. Is often the first serious "Spring is on the way / Winter is done " mile marker here.

Edited January 23, 2023 by Silas_Sancona
edit

[GottmitAlex]

Jan 22, 2023

9:23 PM 

8c

Brood lamps came on.

 

[Tyrone]

It peaked at 29C with humidity around 60%. Nice and sticky for down here. 

[UK_Palms]

Damn! It has been the coldest January night in 36 years (since 1987 freeze) for Heathrow and many parts of west London. It is also the coldest night in general there for at least 12 years, since the December 2010 freeze. It is also the 4th coldest January temperature on record at Heathrow. Those records go back to at least 1946. So just brutal cold. Still not even half as cold as it got in Dallas in Feb 2021 however for context. 🥶

 

Lots of smaller CIDP and Washingtonia are going to be wiped out in the suburbs this winter and some bigger specimens are going to be defoliated probably. There is a 25-30 foot Robusta near Heathrow, so I wonder how that has faired!? The problem is this is the 2nd major freeze now of this winter and we still have all of February left to go. A lot of stuff was still recovering from the previous freeze in early-mid December. If we have another bad cold snap over the next 4-5 weeks that could be kaput even for bigger specimens in the suburbs, certainly in west London anyway.

Central and eastern areas of London should be okay and palms likely won’t even be showing damage there. The low a St James Park in central London was only -3.8C / 25F and that station is located right out in the open. It was likely only -3C / 26F at street level in central London. Maybe -2C / 28F even at street level there. Where I am located however is a different story entirely. These were my 8am temps here. -8C / 17F was the low! 🥶

 

@Foxpalms That area of east Kent has outperformed anywhere in London this winter. I have been monitoring the temps closely during both freezes this winter and the immediate coastal areas on the east coast of Kent have not gone below 0C / 32F at worst there. They haven’t gone down to -2C to -3C as you say. That is further inland where it got quite a bit colder. I’m also pretty sure the stations on Wunderground don’t show the historic data, although I have been monitoring the readings in real time during both freezes. Don’t reply to this though mate, especially with screenshots/photos as it will just fill the page up and add to reload times.

If the CIDP and Washingtonia survive this winter in western London, then nothing is going to take them out at this point. This winter has been the biggest test since 2010 and even worse than that freeze in some places. At least it will ween out the weaker CIDP and Washingtonia, leaving us with hardier seed stock for the future. It can’t really get any worse than what we have experienced this winter now with two big freezes and almost record breaking lows during both events. The worst of it is done now though. It won’t be anywhere near as bad tonight thankfully. Hopefully this is our winter effectively done for us now. It has been a bad one.

Edited January 23, 2023 by UK_Palms

[Samuel]

39 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

Damn! It has been the coldest January night in 36 years (since 1987 freeze) for Heathrow and many parts of west London. It is also the coldest night in general there for at least 12 years, since the December 2010 freeze. It is also the 4th coldest January temperature on record at Heathrow. Those records go back to at least 1946. So just brutal cold. Still not even half as cold as it got in Dallas in Feb 2021 however for context. 🥶

 

Lots of smaller CIDP and Washingtonia are going to be wiped out in the suburbs this winter and some bigger specimens are going to be defoliated probably. There is a 25-30 foot Robusta near Heathrow, so I wonder how that has faired!? The problem is this is the 2nd major freeze now of this winter and we still have all of February left to go. A lot of stuff was still recovering from the previous freeze in early-mid December. If we have another bad cold snap over the next 4-5 weeks that could be kaput even for bigger specimens in the suburbs, certainly in west London anyway.

Central and eastern areas of London should be okay and palms likely won’t even be showing damage there. The low a St James Park in central London was only -3.8C / 25F and that station is located right out in the open. It was likely only -3C / 26F at street level in central London. Maybe -2C / 28F even at street level there. Where I am located however is a different story entirely. These were my 8am temps here. -8C / 17F was the low! 🥶

 

@Foxpalms That area of east Kent has outperformed anywhere in London this winter. I have been monitoring the temps closely during both freezes this winter and the immediate coastal areas on the east coast of Kent have not gone below 0C / 32F at worst there. They haven’t gone down to -2C to -3C as you say. That is further inland where it got quite a bit colder. I’m also pretty sure the stations on Wunderground don’t show the historic data, although I have been monitoring the readings in real time during both freezes. Don’t reply to this though mate, especially with screenshots/photos as it will just fill the page up and add to reload times.

If the CIDP and Washingtonia survive this winter in western London, then nothing is going to take them out at this point. This winter has been the biggest test since 2010 and even worse than that freeze in some places. At least it will ween out the weaker CIDP and Washingtonia, leaving us with hardier seed stock for the future. It can’t really get any worse than what we have experienced this winter now with two big freezes and almost record breaking lows during both events. The worst of it is done now though. It won’t be anywhere near as bad tonight thankfully. Hopefully this is our winter effectively done for us now. It has been a bad one.

Certainly been an unusual  winter with minimum temperatures hopefully the palms make it like you said some will probably defoliate if we get a warm dry spring they should come back however should we get a spring like 2021 then many won’t recover 

[Foxpalms]

The low was 28f last night this has definitely not been a good winter. For some reason it's been above average with two way below average cold spells. It might just be me but the skies seemed extra clear last night and the day before. The UV also increased by 0.2 in 1 day yesterday so that's probably true. Most costal areas had cloud cover whilst there was clear skies all night here. The only good thing is it's been fairly low humidity so there wasn't much frost in the garden and none under tree canopy or next to the house. The city of London had a low of 30f/-1c 

[UK_Palms]

The afterburners were put on full blast today with as much as 15C / 30F of solar heating for some places. I went from -8C to +6C in the space of 6-7 hours under clear skies. That is a pretty good recovery given that we are still in January and way up at 51N.

Central London went up to about 6C as well, but saw a smaller diurnal range due to low lying fog and pollution today. So they went from -2C to +6C. Heathrow and Northolt saw 14C of solar heating after the coldest night in 13 years and the coldest January night since 1987.

[sandgroper]

5.30am, currently a beautiful cool 20c heading for 32c.  Quite mild for this time of year.

 

 

[Ryland]

Currently 1.8ºC, having been down to 0.2ºC sometime during the night.  The January cold spell came to an abrupt end on Sunday, back up to 8ºC and fairly normal temperatures in the forecast ahead too.  We did have 6 consecutive nights below freezing though, the coldest at -2.7ºC, but unlike December some decent daytime recovery.  I've been shocked to see some really brutal temperatures down south though, hope those of you in London or thereabouts are looking after things.

[GottmitAlex]

7 minutes ago, Ryland said:

Currently 1.8ºC, having been down to 0.2ºC sometime during the night.  The January cold spell came to an abrupt end on Sunday, back up to 8ºC and fairly normal temperatures in the forecast ahead too.  We did have 6 consecutive nights below freezing though, the coldest at -2.7ºC, but unlike December some decent daytime recovery.  I've been shocked to see some really brutal temperatures down south though, hope those of you in London or thereabouts are looking after things.

Wow!

[Foxpalms]

2 hours ago, Ryland said:

Currently 1.8ºC, having been down to 0.2ºC sometime during the night.  The January cold spell came to an abrupt end on Sunday, back up to 8ºC and fairly normal temperatures in the forecast ahead too.  We did have 6 consecutive nights below freezing though, the coldest at -2.7ºC, but unlike December some decent daytime recovery.  I've been shocked to see some really brutal temperatures down south though, hope those of you in London or thereabouts are looking after things.

The other night it was 13f warmer in the city of London than London Heathrow. We had no frosts with clear skies but for some reason Sunday night/Monday morning the temperature plummeted the sky did seem extra clear but I've never seen it drop so fast by London winter standards. In December that one cold night it was cold during the day so it made sense if got to 29/30f and 28 here but the temperature on Sunday was 45f/7c so it made no sense.

[Xenon]

50F/10C near sunset, got a bit over 3.5" or ~90 mm of rain today 

Edited January 24, 2023 by Xenon

[bubba]

76°F at 7:20 AM EST

[sandgroper]

7.30am currently 21c heading for a top of 32c. Happy Australia Day to all my fellow Aussies and to everyone else feel free to have beer and celebrate with us.