Florida Winter 2021-2022

[Matthew92]

My neck of the woods at around 6:50am...

[Matthew92]

12 minutes ago, chinandega81 said:

I have been checking the temps across FL on Weather Underground for the past couple of hours. It seems like everyone is several degrees above what was forecasted. I assume it is because the breeze kept up? If that is the case, tonight will be even COLDER as they are forecasting the winds to die down. I think tonight will be the damaging and colder night of this event, unfortunately.

To me from what I've seen it looks like a lot of areas are as cold or colder than what was forecasted (Central and North FL) Extreme S. FL being the exception...

Edited January 30, 2022 by Matthew92

[Matthew92]

Southern half of the Lake Wales Ridge

[chinandega81]

6 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

To me from what I've seen it looks like a lot of areas are as cold or colder than what was forecasted (Central and North FL) Extreme S. FL being the exception...

Tampa Bay had temps much warer near the water. Orlando had quite a few warm spots. The entire east coast of the peninsula stayed above freezing up to Daytona from what I could see. Ft Myers also stayed in the mid 30s and warmer towards the coast. I did not check the pandhandle where you are so I assume you are right that it was colder than expected for you there (sorry).

 

I am looking forward to hear from the members around the state how their backyards faired and if it was better or worse than expected. I fear tonight will be worse for most of us.

Edited January 30, 2022 by chinandega81

[Matthew92]

8 minutes ago, chinandega81 said:

Tampa Bay had temps much warer near the water. Orlando had quite a few warm spots. The entire east coast of the peninsula stayed above freezing up to Daytona from what I could see.  I did not check the pandhandle where you are so I assume you are tight that it was colder than expected for you there (sorry).

The warmer areas you saw were microclimates (a lot associated with lakes and Urban Heat effect). The areas outside those microclimates got as cold or colder than forecast. Was kind of expected and pretty much comes with the territory with these events. Would need a more hefty cold air mass with more wind to cancel out those microclimates.

The entire East Coast of the peninsula stayed above freezing??? Maybe many locations RIGHT on the ocean (especially on a barrier island). But that definitely wasn't the case for everyone in the greater general coastal region. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Matthew92

[IHB1979]

2 minutes ago, chinandega81 said:

Tampa Bay had temps much warer near the water. Orlando had quite a few warm spots. The entire east coast of the peninsula stayed above freezing up to Daytona from what I could see. Ft Myers also stayed in the mid 30s and warmer towards the coast. I did not check the pandhandle where you are so I assume you are right that it was colder than expected for you there (sorry).

 

I am looking forward to hear from the members around the state how their backyards faired and if it was better or worse than expected. I fear tonight will be worse for most of us.

Are you zooming in to those regions or looking at a state-wide view? Many of those north and east central Florida locations along the coast were at freezing or below from I95 westward, some locations everything west of US1 and Indian River was at freezing.

[Matthew92]

Cape Coral/Naples area

Edited January 30, 2022 by Matthew92

[chinandega81]

2 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

The warmer areas you saw were microclimates (a lot associated with lakes and Urban Heat effect). The areas outside those microclimates got as cold or colder than forecast. Was kind of expected pretty much comes with the territory with these events. Would need a more hefty cold air mass with more wind to cancel out those microclimates.

The entire East Coast of the peninsula stayed above freezing??? Maybe many locations RIGHT on the ocean (especially on a barrier island). But that definitely wasn't the case for everyone in the greater general coastal region. 

Yes, I meant coast...not inland. Obviously it was freezing down to Immoaklee which would be equivelent to Boca Raton at the east coast! 

The night before last was very windy and it cancelled out heat islands and microclimates. Last night was breeze as well yet the microclimates and UHI lit up. And that wasn't forecast. It was looking much more across the board. Usually it seems microclimates are over depended on but they aparently deliver3ed. But a lot of the cold areas had warm station reports too. Not sure what happened but this event certainly seems to have under delivered last night. To me that means tonight is when it will be worse based on my experienice with previous major cold fronts.

[chinandega81]

5 minutes ago, IHB1979 said:

Are you zooming in to those regions or looking at a state-wide view? Many of those north and east central Florida locations along the coast were at freezing or below from I95 westward, some locations everything west of US1 and Indian River was at freezing.

Yes, I said along the east coast. Not inland.

[Matthew92]

Gainesville area

[Matthew92]

Some parts of the Orlando area. These were taken at about 8:00 Eastern Time 

Around Northeast side of Orlando/Winter Park

Near Oviedo/Winter Springs

Altamonte Springs

Near Belle Isle

Disney World

Near Dr. Phillips (quite some chilly spots here)

 

[Hombre de Palmas]

Briefly touched 33F about 6:30 this morning. My wife had to go check it, I was too chicken, it was 34F when she looked at 6AM. Now up to 43F!

WU was forecasting 33F when I went to bed at 11:30PM when the temp was 40F, NWS was forecasting 30F. I am a bit west of US 1, but east of the tollway & 95.

There is no visible frost, though I haven't done the dog walk this morning for a wider view.

One last bullet to dodge tonight.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Hombre de Palmas

[JJPalmer]

Chilly temps but a beautiful sunrise in St. Pete. Light frost observed at Kopsick where I measured a temperature of 38°. 

[NickJames]

RIP

[Jimbean]

21 minutes ago, Matthew92 said:

The warmer areas you saw were microclimates (a lot associated with lakes and Urban Heat effect). The areas outside those microclimates got as cold or colder than forecast. Was kind of expected and pretty much comes with the territory with these events. Would need a more hefty cold air mass with more wind to cancel out those microclimates.

The entire East Coast of the peninsula stayed above freezing??? Maybe many locations RIGHT on the ocean (especially on a barrier island). But that definitely wasn't the case for everyone in the greater general coastal region.

The freezing temperatures stayed west of I-95 for the most part from Cocoa/Rockledge southward; in St. Lucie county it stayed roughly west of the Turnpike. 

[Jimbean]

4 minutes ago, NickJames said:

RIP

How cold did it get there?

[Merlyn]

They predicted 32F at the Sanford airport, and Wunderground history graph is showing 31F over there at 5-6AM.  My backyard hit 24.4F on one sensor and 25.5F on the other sensor, with the front yard bottoming out around 27.1F on one side and 31.5F on the other side.  I think the 31.5F sensor is reading high because it's essentially nailed to the last oak tree on my lot, and isn't hanging out in free air like the other 4 sensors.  I'll have to fix that.  Fortunately it was only 48F in the garage, where I put most of my sensitive plants and seedlings.  The back porch (unenclosed) was about 2-3 degrees warmer than the nursery area, so it's only useful from protecting against frost.  A screen-enclosed porch would probably help more, especially on breezy nights.  There was medium frost on the roof and open grass areas.

The backyard was below freezing at 10:25PM last night and jumped up above freezing once the sun hit it at about 8AM.  So about 9.5 hours below freezing and 1 hour below 25F, with the backyard at around 26F for 4 hours.  I expect a lot of damage.  @palmsOrl this is why I said I was already "zone pushing" with some 9B palms. 

 

[D. Morrowii]

Bottomed out at 35.6 F early this morning and climbing out now. The last prediction I saw yesterday was 33 so we were a couple ticks above the forecast thankfully.

[Brian M]

We bottomed out at 26.4 and were below freezing for around 8 hours.

[kinzyjr]

Bottomed off at 34F here.  There was a bit of frost on the rooftops and patches in the little dips in yards.  The garden on the south side of City Hall never dipped below 35F. 

NWS had the airport at 30F for a low and Weather.com had 32F when I checked the monthly forecast.  The airport was already at 37F on NWS at 8:50AM after recording 30F at 7:55AM.  A classic "basketball freeze" with a quick rebound. 

I captured this photo on Medulla Road near County Line Road at 8:30AM.  Note there is still frost and the damage on the Foxtails.

We'll see what tonight brings.

[ruskinPalms]

Last night definitely tended more radiational hence the UHI and microclimate effect coming into play. I always fare worse on radiational nights so tonight may not go well for my yard. Frost may or may not be an issue for tonight. I’m not sure what to the dew points are forecast to be. I will say I’m pretty happy with 31.1F at sunrise as there where plenty of 27 to 29 temps only a couple miles to the east of me at the same time (and even saw a couple 28s and 29 a couple miles to the west of me which is surprising). I threw my temp sensor on a lawn chair in the open back yard without canopy so probably a pretty indicator of the worst case scenario for my yard. Since it was mostly radiational here, I think elevation, even slight differences like 20 or 30 feet may have kept me out of the 20s. I don’t have any real water near me and I’m in a fairy rural area still. That light intermittent NNE wind didn’t help me here at all.

[sonoranfans]

Temps on the maps look to wildly fluctuate over relatively small distances.  My yard reading in the open was 36F min.    No wind, no frost, no damage to any of my zone 10 palms.  In a strong advective event the temps would be more uniform and advantages of canopy, hardscape, windblock, and palm height are not influential.  But this one looked very radiative near dawn, with no frost, no wind, so local microclimates will have effects due to the vegetation/hardscape and water proximity.

[NickJames]

47 minutes ago, Jimbean said:

How cold did it get there?

Allegedly 26. 

[pj_orlando_z9b]

15 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

Last night definitely tended more radiational hence the UHI and microclimate effect coming into play. I always fare worse on radiational nights so tonight may not go well for my yard. Frost may or may not be an issue for tonight. I’m not sure what to the dew points are forecast to be. I will say I’m pretty happy with 31.1F at sunrise as there where plenty of 27 to 29 temps only a couple miles to the east of me at the same time (and even saw a couple 28s and 29 a couple miles to the west of me which is surprising). I threw my temp sensor on a lawn chair in the open back yard without canopy so probably a pretty indicator of the worst case scenario for my yard. Since it was mostly radiational here, I think elevation, even slight differences like 20 or 30 feet may have kept me out of the 20s. I don’t have any real water near me and I’m in a fairy rural area still. That light intermittent NNE wind didn’t help me here at all.

He is the 12z NAM for Ruskin. Not sure what causes the dewpoint drop to 23 by 7 AM but looks fairly high for most of the night. Low of 40.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

9 minutes ago, NickJames said:

Allegedly 26. 

You had them protected and I see green in them. I'll bet they're fine. 

[Matthew92]

26 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

Bottomed off at 34F here.  There was a bit of frost on the rooftops and patches in the little dips in yards.  The garden on the south side of City Hall never dipped below 35F. 

NWS had the airport at 30F for a low and Weather.com had 32F when I checked the monthly forecast.  The airport was already at 37F on NWS at 8:50AM after recording 30F at 7:55AM.  A classic "basketball freeze" with a quick rebound. 

I captured this photo on Medulla Road near County Line Road at 8:30AM.  Note there is still frost and the damage on the Foxtails.

 

We'll see what tonight brings.

Wow, you were quite fortunate considering the nearby temps

[RedRabbit]

My A. myolensis sure didn’t handle 30f well: 

My neighbor’s adonidia look spotless by comparison. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by RedRabbit

[Estlander]

Only took a couple of screenshots of the coldest areas. West of I-75 from Lake City down to Ocala, as is often the case, took the worst hit. 

First screenshot is from a neighborhood in Homosassa Springs area with a solid 19F reading. 

But perhaps the biggest surprise is the northern parts of Port Charlotte with several stations even reporting 24F.

 

[PalmatierMeg]

Low this morning: 38.3F on the Isabelle Canal.   Predicted low: 35F

Currently 48.0F at 10:45 a.m.

I am not uncovering anything until Monday post-noon. I'm sure the coconuts are unhappy and frond-scorched but otherwise unhurt.

Predicted low tonight still 39F, I think.

[kinzyjr]

33 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

My A. myolensis sure didn’t handle 30f well:

Did it get hit with frost?

[RedRabbit]

10 minutes ago, Estlander said:

Only took a couple of screenshots of the coldest areas. West of I-75 from Lake City down to Ocala, as is often the case, took the worst hit. 

First screenshot is from a neighborhood in Homosassa Springs area with a solid 19F reading. 

But perhaps the biggest surprise is the northern parts of Port Charlotte with several stations even reporting 24F.

 

Regarding Port Charlotte, that part of SW Florida gets cold! It’s because the low elevation and cold air draining out from the mainland. Even South Venice 1/2 mile from the gulf gets cold. I’ll have to check the screenshots, but I think South Venice was 31-32f. If you go there it looks very solidly 10a though so I’ve never been quite sure what to make of it.

[RedRabbit]

1 minute ago, kinzyjr said:

Did it get hit with frost?

I don’t think so. There wasn’t a lot of frost and it’s halfway covered with canopy. 

[NickJames]

update from my yard. 
 

also: driving to Hontoon island on Howland. All 10A+ palms are scorched to the point of death EXCEPT some recently installed very tall royals that appear to have been trunk wrapped. 

[RedRabbit]

Does anyone know what the low was on AMI?

[Walt]

I got up at 1:30, went outside and looked around. It was 31 degrees in the open yard. I stayed out for about 30 minutes. When I came back in the house the temperature had gone back up to 33 degrees. I again went outside at 5:30 a.m. and it was 30 degrees. It stayed at 30 degrees until the sun came up. The Lake Placid Elementary STEM weather station had a low of 36.3 at 7:15 a.m.

I had some frost on the house roof and some light frost in the open yard. I didn't see any obvious damage to any of my palms, but the jury will still be out for at least late today.  If no indication of damage as of last night, that may all change if I get heavy frost (actually, frozen dew) tomorrow morning.

 

[kinzyjr]

2 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

Does anyone know what the low was on AMI?

The Spoonbill station had 47.3F.  This is probably relatively close: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KFLBRADE277?cm_ven=localwx_pwsdash

[JJPalmer]

15 minutes ago, kinzyjr said:

The Spoonbill station had 47.3F.  This is probably relatively close: https://www.wunderground.com/dashboard/pws/KFLBRADE277?cm_ven=localwx_pwsdash

Seems a bit high - I’d guess it was closer to 43° given Pine Island and other good climates on the West Coast.

[NOT A TA]

While not as cold as most of the rest of the state due to how close to shore the gulf stream is here in Delray Beach I did turn the heat on last night. Always seems kinda weird that it can be warmer here during cool weather than areas south of here all the way to Key West.

[ChristianStAug]

Our local microclimate did its thing and we bottomed out 33.3. Temperatures leveled off and then fluctuated up and down with the breeze after 4:30 am. No frost that I could find. Alocasias, bananas appear untouched. I only have a bronzed heliconia leaf and am counting my blessings. An insane gradient of an entire hardiness zone exists over a short distance. The lizards are already back out late this morning. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by ChristianStAug

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Driving this morning down Hoffner, seeing some damage on tender palms I follow. 2 stations within a half mile were 28 and 29. Bottom is my coconut today after 35. I'll lose all my lower fronds because of the prolonged cold but palm should be fine.