Florida Winter 2021-2022

[Alan_Tampa]

I haven't had a thermometer in the yard for years,. I use plants to tell me how cold it got. Papayas is  a good.one, shows damage right at freezing, below that looks like cooked spinach, right away.  What complicates this, is I don't have any Papayas.  But people in my neighborhood do. 

 

Mixed bag, some look fine, some a little cooked, but only one spinached.  As my yard is pretty packed, probably just some foliage damage at this point. Will give the Inga a few days to let me know how it fared. Palms probably fine.  My mom and aunt have all the sensitive stuff in thier yards. 

[JJPalmer]

I noticed this station earlier this morning. Amazing to see 29°F in SW Pinellas County; even more credible being that it was from a Davis PWS. 

[RedRabbit]

1 hour 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

 

1 hour ago, JJPalmer said:

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

Based on what I saw the warmest places on the peninsula appeared to be:

44f: Key Biscayne, North Captiva, Useppa Island

43f: Miami Beach,  Coquina Key (St. Pete)

Does this sound accurate?

I’ve got a feeling AMI may have been the warmest spot in the state, but we don’t have data either way on that. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by RedRabbit

[JJPalmer]

1 minute ago, RedRabbit said:

 

Based on what I saw the warmest places in the peninsula appeared to be:

44f: Key Biscayne, North Captiva, Useppa Island

43f: Miami Beach,  Coquina Key (St. Pete)

Does this sound accurate?

I’ve got a feeling AMI may have been the warmest spot in the state, but we don’t have data either way on that. 

I had Bokeelia at 43° as well. 

[Merlyn]

17 minutes ago, Alan_Tampa said:

I haven't had a thermometer in the yard for years,. I use plants to tell me how cold it got. Papayas is  a good.one, shows damage right at freezing, below that looks like cooked spinach, right away.  What complicates this, is I don't have any Papayas.  But people in my neighborhood do. 

 

Mixed bag, some look fine, some a little cooked, but only one spinached.  As my yard is pretty packed, probably just some foliage damage at this point. Will give the Inga a few days to let me know how it fared. Palms probably fine.  My mom and aunt have all the sensitive stuff in thier yards. 

That's like the punchline of a joke...I use Papayas to tell me how cold it got.  I don't have any Papayas. 

[PalmatierMeg]

Coconuts hate to be cold and hate to be cool. Mine yellow and cold spot at anything below 50F, 28F would sound their death knell. They saw down to 38.3F last night unprotected and I know they will show me their unhappiness in coming days. Fortunately, they outgrow their unhappiness quickly when the weather turns very warm. 

[RedRabbit]

34 minutes ago, JJPalmer said:

I had Bokeelia at 43° as well. 

Ah, good find!

Its kind of cool Coquina Key and even the places we mentioned in Lee County hung in there with Miami Beach! 

1 hour 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

That’s certainly a plausible number!

[kinzyjr]

40 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

Based on what I saw the warmest places on the peninsula appeared to be:

44f: Key Biscayne, North Captiva, Useppa Island

43f: Miami Beach,  Coquina Key (St. Pete)

Does this sound accurate?

I’ve got a feeling AMI may have been the warmest spot in the state, but we don’t have data either way on that. 

38 minutes ago, JJPalmer said:

I had Bokeelia at 43° as well. 

 

5 minutes ago, RedRabbit said:

That’s certainly a plausible number!

Probably the only way to know for sure is to know someone who lives there or know a good hiding spot for a temperature sensor where it won't be bothered or stolen and take a few readings next time the inevitable happens. 

[TampaPalms]

The nearest station reported 30° but I suspect in my little area I got into the upper 20s. My arecas are already burned, my foxtail looks burned and my variegated arboricola, the ones that weren't under the tree are burned. Usually those don't burn unless it's 27ish. 

I got rid of my thermometer years ago but being a amateur weather guy and amateur tropical nut I can tell that it was a couple hours about 28° or so.

[Estlander]

Did a little tour of the yard and to check my thermometers.  Currently 59F and sunny. 
 

Recorded 27F in the front yard. My two free hanging sensors in the open back yard  at 5ft. height recorded 26.2F and 26.4F. 

Didn’t protect anything as I just didn’t think it was necessary. Forecast showed I was supposed to stay above freezing. But boy did the temperature drop after sunset. At just 9.30pm my yard was already at 28F. 
 

Here are a few pics of how some of my more tender plants fared after so many hours below freezing:

Pretty shocked how well my triple Adonidia took it. Still looks pretty much as it did before the freeze. It’s under some Pine canopy, but still not bad considering what weaklings these things are when it comes to freezing weather. Was pretty sure it would be dead by morning. 
 

Mango tree has some bronzing on its upper leaves. It’s in a very exposed spot and not under any canopy. 

All my several Giant Birds of Paradise are fine. The smaller ones do have some bronzing on some of the leaves however.  The big one close to the wall is fine. 
 

Can’t see any damage to my C. Cataractum and C. Chamaedorea. 
Ti plants aren’t too happy, lol. But then again they already weren’t before last night. 
 

All Philodendron Selloums completely fine. Monstera Deliciosa leaves bronzed but stalks still firm and upright. 
 

Both Majesties and P. Roebelennii completely fine. 

Edited January 30, 2022 by Estlander

[ruskinPalms]

Not much early damage evident from last night yet. Just a few quick photos. Even the very tender fronds in the middle of my coconut that is trying to recover from crown rot look pretty good so far. Here’s hoping tonight doesn’t trash all my foliage with frost/frozen dew 

[ruskinPalms]

Things like R. regia and D. lutescens turn chocolate brown on the first day after a (significant) freeze in my experience and I didn’t see any of that today when I went jogging in my neighborhood. I try not to stress too much over the temps anymore and focus more on empirical evidence of survival. I did break down and throw an old sensor in a lawn chair last night though. I’ll be at work too early to watch for the ultimate low tomorrow morning so oh well. I do have a pretty decent pagoda style screen I made for sensors years ago but my kids broke the base station and I never replaced it. Just have to see how things go lol. 

[ruskinPalms]

No damage to baby D. lutescens down there n the ditch behind my house. These I would have expected to get cooked given they’re down in a cold sink but I guess the little bit of water there helped them. 

[palmsOrl]

5 hours 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.

Yeah this was the real deal.  We got down to 29F in Maitland.  Amazing how cold it got in inland parts of South Florida.

God Bless the USA

-Michael

[ruskinPalms]

Definitely some interesting cold spots all the way down to golden gate east of Naples with some upper 20s showing up even that far south. 

[Hombre de Palmas]

Well, the NWS just slipped us a nasty surprise.

They dropped my low temperature from 37F to 29F?!

Edit: Not seeing that borne out in the models. Maybe I'm missing something.

Edited January 30, 2022 by Hombre de Palmas

[ruskinPalms]

And just for giggles, the same thermometer sensor sitting in the same lawn chair in the sun this evening lol. This is why sensors need a some sort of screen for hot sun for sure. 

[ruskinPalms]

8 minutes ago, Hombre de Palmas said:

Well, the NWS just slipped us a nasty surprise.

They dropped my low temperature from 37F to 29F?!

Edit: Not seeing that borne out in the models. Maybe I'm missing something.

NWS has me down to 37F tonight with no frost advisories yet. I’m skeptical. I bet it gets lower than that here if the wind totally dies. 

[Jimbean]

15 minutes ago, Hombre de Palmas said:

Well, the NWS just slipped us a nasty surprise.

They dropped my low temperature from 37F to 29F?!

Edit: Not seeing that borne out in the models. Maybe I'm missing something.

The NWS has me at 31F

[Hombre de Palmas]

Just now, Jimbean said:

The NWS has me at 31F

WU still predicting 36F here. They were closer than NWS last night but who knows tonight.

 

The range on the latest model runs is 35F - 38F.

[Jimbean]

4 minutes ago, Hombre de Palmas said:

WU still predicting 36F here. They were closer than NWS last night but who knows tonight.

 

The range on the latest model runs is 35F - 38F.

Weather Underground has me at 38F

[Aceraceae]

AMI: 47.3 F

3 hours ago, RedRabbit said:

Based on what I saw the warmest places on the peninsula appeared to be:

44f: Key Biscayne, North Captiva, Useppa Island

43f: Miami Beach,  Coquina Key (St. Pete)

Does this sound accurate?

I’ve got a feeling AMI may have been the warmest spot in the state, but we don’t have data either way on that. 

So Key West dipped below 50? 

[Jimbean]

2 minutes ago, Aceraceae said:

AMI: 47.3 F

So Key West dipped below 50? 

The two stations I saw were 50.5F and 49.5F for lows in Key West

[RedRabbit]

I started a new thread here specifically for screenshots from this event. 
 

 

[NickJames]

Should I proactively apply peroxide or copper fungicide to my cold damaged palms?

[kinzyjr]

4 minutes ago, Aceraceae said:

So Key West dipped below 50? 

No, but there was no conclusive data for Anna Maria.

2 minutes ago, Jimbean said:

The two stations I saw were 50.5F and 49.5F for lows in Key West

The airport got down to 50F and stayed there for a few hours.  On the NWS site, you can see the airport using its call sign: KEYW  This is from the last 3 days of history:

[kinzyjr]

Just now, NickJames said:

Should I proactively apply peroxide or copper fungicide to my cold damaged palms?

If you do, just to be safe, I'd wait until tomorrow afternoon when it is around 70F and the threat of going down to freezing is minimal.

[NickJames]

Just now, kinzyjr said:

If you do, just to be safe, I'd wait until tomorrow afternoon when it is around 70F and the threat of going down to freezing is minimal.

Thanks. I have plenty of hand so as long as it won’t HURT, I might do it then. 

 

[chinandega81]

The crazy thing was, the Keys were the coldest part of the entire state today. The Peninsula and Panhandle were in the 60s and the Keys stayed in the 50s, all of us under sunny skies!

[Walt]

At 7:30 p.m. today, it's running almost 4 degrees warmer than last night at the same time. It's been trending that way for the last hour. I'd like to see that spread hold (or even better) through tomorrow morning.

[RedRabbit]

It’s down to 40f here already… 

[Aceraceae]

Humidity is still very low in most areas not near water with light onshore wind. Key West is dropping fast to the low 50s with only 50% humidity, with slight northeast wind. If the wind could stop and they could have some radiational cooling, they'd easily fall to the 40s in the next few hours before midnight when the wind picks up. As it is the current 54 is supposed to hold as the lowest temp there.  Somehow the dew point is the same from about Port St. Lucie to Key West even tho all wind in KW is over wide water. 

Edited January 31, 2022 by Aceraceae

[Hombre de Palmas]

17 minutes ago, Walt said:

At 7:30 p.m. today, it's running almost 4 degrees warmer than last night at the same time. It's been trending that way for the last hour. I'd like to see that spread hold (or even better) through tomorrow morning.

Good luck tonight.

[pj_orlando_z9b]

Vero airport dropped 20 degrees in 5 hrs. 56 to 36. That high pressure must be right on top of them. 

[ruskinPalms]

Anyone notice how it is much warmer in north Florida than central Florida right now??

[ruskinPalms]

Oh wait..and south Florida…

[ruskinPalms]

High pressure center? I’m curious. 

[ChristianStAug]

4 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

Anyone notice how it is much warmer in north Florida than central Florida right now??

I was just panning around wunderground live maps and I have never seen such a temperature distribution. 

Edited January 31, 2022 by ChristianStAug

[kinzyjr]

3 minutes ago, ChristianStAug said:

I was just panning around wunderground live maps and I have never seen such a temperature distribution. 

3 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

High pressure center? I’m curious. 

4 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

Oh wait..and south Florida…

6 minutes ago, ruskinPalms said:

Anyone notice how it is much warmer in north Florida than central Florida right now??

 

There is an inverted freeze mentioned in A History of Florida Citrus Freezes by John A. Attaway

[ruskinPalms]

It is interesting overall. The Florida peninsula (the west side especially) really is North America’s cold air drain.