Florida Weather

[NDG]

For the most part it looks like that from the I-4 corridor on southward stayed above freezing, only a couple of spots touching freezing briefly. So once again the forecasted MOS numbers did fairly well.
Unlike forecasted the dewpoint rose from the teens & single digits to the upper 20s to low 30s early this morning so where the winds went completely calm there is some widespread frost.

[gsytch]

When I left for the gym at 750am the fields were covered in frost! A lot more than my yard, but that makes sense. No damage on ANY plants seen, and Brugmansia and Banana will show frost damage even if not 32F. Upwards we go. Our local weather channel, BayNews9, reported 30F in New Port Richey. Where that was I dunno. Not even close and I live in the city. But then Leesburg reported warmer than Sarasota? They always seem to. HUH? Upwards from here!

[gsytch]

My mistake. Heliconias in open ground have some burn on the highest leaves. I was just checking N FL temps and Alachua county reported 19F in one location. Ouch! Lecanto in Citrus co reported 24F. The Tropics of Tampa reported 38F yet McDill AFB, surrounded by water, sat at 32F? Hmmm......

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

From the gardening site I belong to (a whole bunch of unhappy Floridians there)

"25 out, what a bummer. Banana, angel trumpets azealea flowers, all toast. When the stuff on the patio, under the screen and by the pool get froze, it was really cold. They can take down to about 27, but it surely got colder than that."
Gainesville, Fl.

"It was 37° at ten last night, 32° this morning for a good three hours. I covered some plants last night and brought in the orchids. This morning though is the first time walking around my garden after cold temps that I can smell that smell, you know rotten vegetation. Oh well it was a nice thought to think just one winter maybe we could go without freezing plant damage."
Winter Springs, Fl.

[Sanibel]

Don't think we got below 40 here. Warming up fast in bright sun.

[northjaxpro]

Just checked with the NWS Jax site and indeed the official low temp was 24 degrees earlier today.

[NDG]

From the gardening site I belong to (a whole bunch of unhappy Floridians there)

"25 out, what a bummer. Banana, angel trumpets azealea flowers, all toast. When the stuff on the patio, under the screen and by the pool get froze, it was really cold. They can take down to about 27, but it surely got colder than that."
Gainesville, Fl.

"It was 37° at ten last night, 32° this morning for a good three hours. I covered some plants last night and brought in the orchids. This morning though is the first time walking around my garden after cold temps that I can smell that smell, you know rotten vegetation. Oh well it was a nice thought to think just one winter maybe we could go without freezing plant damage."
Winter Springs, Fl.

I drove all over Orlando today and did not see much damage other than some light damage to foliage of Banana trees which are very sensible even to light frost, the northern outskirts of Orlando including Winter Springs did hit 32 deg but briefly for the most part, a fire station in Apopka bottom out at 27 but is right next to the Wekiva river valley where it is not unusual for them to get at least 5 degrees lower than the rest of the city. But compared to 2 & 3 winters ago this was uneventful without much damage to the usual hardy tropical plants that can take light short lived freezes here in central FL. Like I said before this could had been worst.

[gsytch]

Definitely an unevent here in W Pasco. Some light burn on Bananas and Heliconia, which are the first to show any damage esp frost. Brugmansias (Angels Trumpets) usually show it, too, but they are not. My large tomatoes are showing damage at the top, but they have been growing since August and are very large and probably spent anyway. Picking luscious fresh tomatoes since Halloween so its time to trash them as the new seedlings are ready. Sarasota tied a record low at 35F. It was a typical cold shot of air we are famous for!

[Sanibel]

Into the warm-up now. The citrus are blooming.

[gsytch]

Just when we thought it was safe to go back into the water...check out next Wed-Sat.....COLD! And perhaps a 7-10 day stay although it does not appear to be any freezing weather but for No FL. Still, early March is a bit late for an extended period. The AO will go briefly negative. BOO!

[HURRICANELONNY]

Looks like they took most of that away. Showing a weaker front as of now.

Long term/ Sunday through Thursday...
another major middle level trough will move through the Great Lakes
region early next week and traverse a littler farther to the south
than the first wave. This will allow for the subtropical ridge to
shift ever so slightly to the south and let a weak cold front move
into South Florida late Tuesday. This could enhance chances of rain
slightly and both the mav and European model (ecmwf) guidance show a temperature drop
of 5 to 10 degrees for Wednesday and Thursday.

[gsytch]

Here in Tampa Bay, they are calling for 60's/40's for an extended period. BOO! I love the heat and spring. Get this winter stuff over with. On to spring I say!

[HURRICANELONNY]

I hope we get some of that cool down. Won't be long and the sauna is here to stay. I say windows are alot cheaper then A.C.

[northjaxpro]

The models are hinting at another significant upper level trough developing across the Eastern United States by this time next week (Feb 27 -Mar 1). It's a bit too early to determine the extent of the cold. This remains to be seen as time progresses. However, the pattern evolving is definitely worth watching for next week. I was thinking that last week's cold blast would be winter's last stand for portions of the peninsula. However, it could be that Old Man Winter may pay us one more visit, at least across the northern peninsula. We shall see.

[FireRat]

Well y'all, it got to 38 on Sunday morning, and 40 on Monday morning at my location. Sunday was crazy, with a high of only 54...I went out at noon and it was still just 48 degs with stiff winds, really shocking hehe. No freeze down here however!

Now its back to balmy and tropical-like, lets see if this March stuff pans out the way accuweather paints it on their extended range

now something silly,
my water heater got screwed up 2 days ago, and I tell ya, the water got COLD as heck...hoping to have the darn thing fixed before the next front cuz the only place I don't like the cold is in the shower! All that weekend cold realy chilled the water, and it felt like electric shocks when it hit me

[NDG]

Yeap, next week into the weekend look fairly cold for this time of the year for FL, a negative AO and finally a negative NAO will bring yet another chance for freezing wx for at least north FL, don't plant those tomatoes yet from at least Ocala on northward

[SaskatchewanScreamer]

Well y'all, it got to 38 on Sunday morning, and 40 on Monday morning at my location. Sunday was crazy, with a high of only 54...I went out at noon and it was still just 48 degs with stiff winds, *really shocking hehe.*

You just gave a chuckle to this glacial Northener FireRat.

[Sanibel]

now something silly,
my water heater got screwed up 2 days ago, and I tell ya, the water got COLD as heck...hoping to have the darn thing fixed before the next front cuz the only place I don't like the cold is in the shower! All that weekend cold realy chilled the water, and it felt like electric shocks when it hit me

Probably giving out. Water heaters in Florida don't generally "fix". Most-likely it is giving hints it needs to be replaced. Sanibel code makes us put our water heaters above the surge. Our 2nd floor water heater had the tank rupture and caused thousands of dollars in water damage just a few months ago.

[FireRat]

You just gave a chuckle to this glacial Northener FireRat.

Well that's a winter for ya in the sunshine state hehe

And yep Sanibel, my water heater was bad and had to be replaced...good thing my condo does that for me, phew!

Warm water on the way!

And the cold looks to come soon too again

[northjaxpro]

Things really do look very, very interesting for this upcoming Friday into next weekend across the peninsula and the SE U.S. We have touched on this already the past couple of days, but folks, I have to say we may see our coldest weather of the season next weekend. The extent of the cold still remains unclear 6-7 days out. However, both the GFS and the Euro runs have shown remarkable agreement from the past couple of days through today of a much colder pattern setting up into next weekend for the peninsula.

Both models depict a very anomalous and extremely deep 500 mb upper level trough developing across the Eastern U.S. by next Friday. The big discrepency with the models at this point concerns moisture, as the GFS runs are showing sufficient moisture into the SE U.S., but the Euro is much drier with its solution at this time. Since both reliable models are in good agreement of the deep trough developing, a pattern set-up like this one will certainly have spokes of energy (vort maxes) rotating down through the base of the trough. I would find it hard to imagine if this did not occur with such a deep 500 mb trough that is being depicted by GFS and Euro. The models often struggle initially with the timing of these vorts in events like this potential one and this is what I will watch as the days progress. Something has to give here and we will see how the models handle these features, especially as we get closer to the event by the latter part of the week.

I think with the GFS and Euro in such good agreement, it is safe to reason that Old Man Winter will blow back in the region in a rather significant fashion by next weekend. Another interesting thing to note is that with the recent winter storms to impact the Plains, Midwest and portions of the Northeast U.S., we now for the first time this season have a decent snowpack in place to help keep the cold air mass from moderating too much. Also, it appears that the polar vortex will set up shop by next weekend across Eastern Canada, courtesy of a blocking High Pressure over Greenland. Therefore, it appears that the -NAO pattern has finally developed should next weekend's scenario verifies. This of course would be a classic set-up of funneling polar air all across the Eastern United States. The models will be very interesting to monitor all through this coming week.

I thought last weekend's cold snap which bought the Jax area a couple of mornings of hard freezes was going to be it for this season. Well, if the model runs verify going into next week, we may be in for quite a late season cold outbreak from Old Man Winter in our region as we enter March.

So, most definitely, I would hold off in planting the spring garden, especially for areas of the north and north central portions of the peninsula. I think the cold will definitely be back, potentially in a big way by next weekend.