Polar Vortex Jan 2025 - Are you preparing your palms?

[Xenon]

Brrrr it's cold

[PaPalmTrees]

3 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Brrrr it's cold

how much snow is on the ground?

[Xenon]

2 minutes ago, PaPalmTrees said:

how much snow is on the ground?

I'm not there in person but judging by the pavers still being clearly visible, less than 2"?

[PaPalmTrees]

1 minute ago, Xenon said:

I'm not there in person but judging by the pavers still being clearly visible, less than 2"?

ok

[ahosey01]

Been teetering on 32F/33F here for about an hour now.  Hoping we get a mid-day warm up.  We're supposed to, allegedly.

[MarcusH]

Happy snow day everyone. 

[PaPalmTrees]

Just now, MarcusH said:

Happy snow day everyone. 

First time seeing a snowball in Texas LOL.

[MarcusH]

1 minute ago, PaPalmTrees said:

First time seeing a snowball in Texas LOL.

I haven't touched snow in 3 years since I moved from Germany to Texas. Feels good to me hehe 

[PaPalmTrees]

2 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

I haven't touched snow in 3 years since I moved from Germany to Texas. Feels good to me hehe 

where did you live in germany my mom lived in germany for a year it's a pretty cool country

[Chester B]

I went down to 27F and it’s slowly warming up. I’ve gotten 2.5” so far, I measured the snow on an outdoor table. Palm fronds are all weighed down. It’s heavy wet packing snow. Did I mention I hate this crap??

[JeskiM]

6 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I went down to 27F and it’s slowly warming up. I’ve gotten 2.5” so far, I measured the snow on an outdoor table. Palm fronds are all weighed down. It’s heavy wet packing snow. Did I mention I hate this crap??

.... it's like you never left OR.     re: the heavy wet snow.

-Matt

[jwitt]

Reminds me something out of the 1980's.

New Orleans 2025

[ahosey01]

I had a feeling my spot would be slightly warm in an advective freeze, because my immediate area has the tallest surviving cook pines on the west side of Brownsville after '21.  So far that looks correct because I'm at 33F/34F while the rest of the town is 32F.  Only other place close to here that is warmer is the island and Laguna Vista, which are 36F and 34F respectively.

[Chester B]

8 minutes ago, JeskiM said:

.... it's like you never left OR.     re: the heavy wet snow.

-Matt

Sadly, you are 100% correct. 

[UK_Palms]

15 minutes ago, Chester B said:

I went down to 27F and it’s slowly warming up. I’ve gotten 2.5” so far, I measured the snow on an outdoor table. Palm fronds are all weighed down. It’s heavy wet packing snow. Did I mention I hate this crap??

Goodness me. When do you actually make the move to Houston so that you can escape all that PNW carnage?

[Xenon]

2 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

Goodness me. When do you actually make the move to Houston so that you can escape all that PNW carnage?

This is Houston right now, what do you mean 😆

[MarcusH]

22 minutes ago, PaPalmTrees said:

where did you live in germany my mom lived in germany for a year it's a pretty cool country

I'm from Paderborn,  small town ( whole county 300,000 pop.) located on the west central side , 2.5 hrs from Frankfurt , 2 hrs from Cologne.  Yes it's pretty cool I loved living there.  The nature is beautiful.  Miss it. 

[MarcusH]

4 minutes ago, UK_Palms said:

Goodness me. When do you actually make the move to Houston so that you can escape all that PNW carnage?

I would move to Portland today if I could lol.  I grew up in a climate like that.  The beauty over there makes it all up.

Oh as I'm writing the sun breaks through the clouds for the first time.

[Xenon]

New Orleans is expecting 6-7 inches of snow today. Blizzard conditions along Lake Ponchartrain, looks more like Lake Michigan lol

[Chester B]

2 minutes ago, Xenon said:

New Orleans is expecting 6-7 inches of snow today. Blizzard conditions along Lake Ponchartrain, looks more like Lake Michigan lol

I was watching some storm chasing video of them driving through Louisiana. It looks exactly like it does around the Great Lakes when. There is heavy snow. 
 

@Xenon I’m seeing changes in the forecast for tonight as well. Most are saying low of 22f which is much better.  It’s even within a zone 9 rating!

If it weren’t for my palms and exotics I wouldn’t bat an eye at the snow and temps like these.  

[jwitt]

Galveston!

[thyerr01]

Looks like I'm also in the 2-3" range.

[ahosey01]

Was thinking today... to all of you getting defeated by the events of the last four years... just keep in mind....

If the 2020s are the new 1980s... all the bad freezes came within about 6 years (83-89).  We're most of the way through that much time, and so far nothing as bad as 1983 or 1989 has happened.

[MarcusH]

Weather forecast for now says around 24°f for San Antonio tomorrow morning.  Better than I thought.  My area is usually a degree colder. Snow is almost melted and it rapidly warms up . 

[idontknowhatnametuse]

No snow here in northern Mexico. Only rain. Min temp was -2⁰C (28F)

[Swolte]

Man, great pictures, this is quite the story! 

Woke up this morning to light snow, barely half an inch. Lows were exactly what was predicted the day before (around 28F). The sun came through some of the cloud cover and and, as of now, most of the snow has already melted. I hope, together with a nice warm up, this bodes well for tomorrow morning when it is supposed to get real cold. Forecasts have moderated to 22F for me, however, we have clear skies and (in my repeated experience) models are usually unable to account for that (😒). I would not be surprised if temps may end up in the low teens.

I only defoliated a small L Chinensis and did not protect several of the larger palms. Garden looks nice, however, I really need a year where palms can grow so I I have some more evergreen to look at, dangit! If it actually stays in the 20s, and I will reserve some cautious optimism, I might just get that!

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

 

[Xenon]

19 minutes ago, ahosey01 said:

Was thinking today... to all of you getting defeated by the events of the last four years... just keep in mind....

If the 2020s are the new 1980s... all the bad freezes came within about 6 years (83-89).  We're most of the way through that much time, and so far nothing as bad as 1983 or 1989 has happened.

Once 1899 comes along we should be set for awhile 🤗

[ahosey01]

1 minute ago, Xenon said:

Once 1899 comes along we should be set for awhile 🤗

I prefer to believe that thermometers were shittier and the arctic was colder back then.  lol

[Dwarf Fan]

Corpus Christi Airport was down to 30F.

So much for the Laguna Madre and the Gulf of Mexico providing much thermal insulation  North Padre Island checking in with rainy wet chunky ice chips raining down like Sonic ice this morning at 32F:

[MarcusH]

5 minutes ago, Swolte said:

Man, great pictures, this is quite the story! 

Woke up this morning to light snow, barely half an inch. Lows were exactly what was predicted the day before (around 28F). The sun came through some of the cloud cover and and, as of now, most of the snow has already melted. I hope, together with a nice warm up, this bodes well for tomorrow morning when it is supposed to get real cold. Forecasts have moderated to 22F for me, however, we have clear skies and (in my repeated experience) models are usually unable to account for that (😒). I would not be surprised if temps may end up in the low teens.

I only defoliated a small L Chinensis and did not protect several of the larger palms. Garden looks nice, however, I really need a year where palms can grow so I I have some more evergreen to look at, dangit! If it actually stays in the 20s, and I will reserve some cautious optimism, I might just get that!

Good luck to everyone tomorrow!

 

What side of SA do you live? 

The only less hardy palm I have is my Robusta (hybrid) . Should be fine but I expect heavy leaf burn after tomorrow.  It is what it is.  

[MarcusH]

3 minutes ago, Xenon said:

Once 1899 comes along we should be set for awhile 🤗

I honestly think this is something we can't predict for sure and I wouldn't bet my money on your assumption with the provided data from the past.  There are just too many influences that changes weather/climate.  You might be right and we see a long stretch of warm winters but we also could see more extreme winter events with lows we haven't seen so far. No one of us has a crystal ball.  In the 1970s they said we're going to head towards the ice age. Some others said the Maldives Islands will be under water by the year 2000.  Maybe in a hundred of years we can't grow any palm in Texas because it gets too hot or too cold. Me personally I'm already counting on further cold winters and so far my pessimism has been proven right.  

[Victor likes palms]

Are we suppose to to wash off the ice on the leaves? The snow aswell😭. We had a low of 29 degrees and are expecting 23 tomorrow morning here in Beeville. We had about 1-2 inches of snow.

[Xenon]

2 minutes ago, MarcusH said:

I honestly think this is something we can't predict for sure and I wouldn't bet my money on your assumption with the provided data from the past.  There are just too many influences that changes weather/climate.  You might be right and we see a long stretch of warm winters but we also could see more extreme winter events with lows we haven't seen so far. No one of us has a crystal ball.  In the 1970s they said we're going to head towards the ice age. Some others said the Maldives Islands will be under water by the year 2000.  Maybe in a hundred of years we can't grow any palm in Texas because it gets too hot or too cold. Me personally I'm already counting on further cold winters and so far my pessimism has been proven right.  

It's a joke Marcus, you can't get any lower than 1899. They say it was like a one in thousand year freeze where even the tropics froze and North Florida recorded temps below zero fahrenheit. Can only get warmer from rock bottom 1899 unless we really are headed into the Ice Age 😆

[ChrisA]

Hey New Mexico! 6F!?!?  

[Las Palmas Norte]

Humm, interesting. Meanwhile in Canada, Vancouver Island. In all fairness we did hit 32°F by sunrise today.

 

[MarcusH]

12 minutes ago, Xenon said:

It's a joke Marcus, you can't get any lower than 1899. They say it was like a one in thousand year freeze where even the tropics froze and North Florida recorded temps below zero fahrenheit. Can only get warmer from rock bottom 1899 unless we really are headed into the Ice Age 😆

If we head into the ice age IKEA offers some great ever green palms . I bought one a while ago lol.  Cold hardy down to zone 1. 

[MarcusH]

1 minute ago, Las Palmas Norte said:

Humm, interesting. Meanwhile in Canada, Vancouver Island. In all fairness we did hit 32°F by sunrise today.

 

It's already 35f here . The sun is warm.  Tomorrow we get hit by the low 20s for the last time. 

[jwitt]

7 minutes ago, ChrisA said:

Hey New Mexico! 6F!?!?  

At the sunport. Double Eagle saw 1f.   May have been colder as I checked after 7am.

[Meangreen94z]

One of my Brahea armata in Lago Vista

[ahosey01]

10 minutes ago, Meangreen94z said:

One of my Brahea armata in Lago Vista

Scoffing at the cold!

I have almost no hope of growing Brahea at my house.  Soil is basically as heavy as uranium and it's wet 9 days out of 10. lol