Florida..it's cold down here

[snake]

It's been three days now...the morning temps are in the 20's..and the highs in the 50's. This is NW Florida now....so...how do I hibernate?

[otobesane1]

If my Mom cussed, she would have been cussing me this morning. I talked to her and she said the temperature in Clearwater was 38. I told her that she could have our 6 degrees and 16" of snow. She declined and told me that she was going to have her hair done and go out to lunch with some other old hens. (This may be their only chance to break out the fur coats this year)

[Pokeberry Mary]

We've been waking up to 12, 14 or 16 degrees lately. Folks in the north don't get our whining. I used to live in Fargo ND so I can tell you this isn't really cold--but in the south--cold is not so good cuz it kills crops, freezes pipes and there's nothing much here that plows or salts roads--and I gotta tell you Southerners CANNOT drive on ice or snow.

You can always tell if snow is coming cuz they all herd out to get milk and bread the day before. ;) Its like watching wooly bears for the 'signs'.

[snake]

At 0745 the temp was 24.7 here in the bushes. Even worse....some forcaster's say this could be for the whole month of January. Geez...I hope not, I'm, already whining! To think I once thought of living in Montana. USMC cured me of that though. I can't even handle NJ temps. I'm so spoiled!

[Pokeberry Mary]

I wouldn't want to move back up north either. The nice thing about cold here is its over fast.

[gunsmoke]

Its global warming, caused exclusively by the United States And all us selfish greedy Americans. And the Polar Bears are taking their revenge by paddling those icebergs down the gulfstream to cool things off.

Its settled consensus science!!

Pass an excise tax on BTUs and that will fix it all.

[Pokeberry Mary]

oh don't get me started! Honest to pete-- warming--yah sure.:rolleyes:

[snake]

...she's bringing the natural cold. And cold it is, at least for me, 22 this AM. Hope this ends soon, but it doesn't look like it will.

[pamsabear]

The problem with this type of cold in Florida is that most of us have our gardens going full swing. Tonights freeze may make us start all over again. We'll cover the tomatoes, but we can't cover everything.

Otherwise, I kind of like it. Gives me an excuse to use the fireplace:)

Pam

[Native87]

Did you all have citrus crop damage?? They mentioned it here a total of two times but I haven't heard no more. I was just curious. They had one farmer and he said that if it did freeze all he could do was harvest as fast as possible and get the oranges to a juioce factory wher he would only get half price. Thats bad. Here in Virginia it has NOT been over 32 degrees since New Years Eve. It has been a high of the twenties and lows antwhere from - I owe you one to the warmest so far 18. This is really rough for sure. Send your non driving folks a little farther north in the south :) They either learn to drive or set a spell. :)

[fredfl]

Here in central Fl we've had 4 freezes in a row I moved my tomatoes to the lanai for the week hope it warms up next week. Have seen a lot of trucks loaded with oranges hope they got em picked before the freeze. I picked all my lemons after first frost as I lost half of them last year with temps in the 20's. My banana tree is toast think I'm gonna take it out 4 years and no fruit guess we're too far north.

[snake]

It's made it all the way up to 50 here today...but just for today. More of the Arctic stuff coming. Ice on my pond, and it's brackish water. Probably lost my orange tree too. Hoping the cold trend changes.

[MooseToo]

i guess it's unusual but not unheard of - i remember as a kid growing up near the center of miami in the early fifties seeing snow flurries - not sleet but actual flakes - of course it was a winter crisis that lasted about eight hours -

[pamsabear]

I can replant my garden, but I feel so sorry for the farmers. As one said, "You shouldn't be a farmer if you can't handles stress".

Our county (Pinellas) has one u-pick farm that just opened last fall. They borrowed $100,000 to get started. Now they have to start all over. My heart just aches for them.

Pam

[lraude]

I am in N Central Florida, and during the first and second cold spells my thermometer showed temps in the single digits. One time as late as 9:30 AM. And this was not any wind chill affecting the temp. I used to repair and maintain weather equipment in the Navy for many many years so I do know how to get the temps with and without wind chill.

All I can say is HURRAY FOR MOTHER NATURE!!! People must be reminded every now and then that we are just riders on the big beautiful planet and TPTB (NOT humans) must put us in our places once in a while.

[T774]

Temps today in the mid to high 90's. Not cold anymore...

[Aamylf]

I've lived in FL nigh onto 30 years and this is the first summer I remember thinking, "Dang. This is HOT." Heat index Saturday was 106! It's never been over 98 in real temp, but Saturday was nearly unbearable. Forgot to put the windscreens in the car window and could barely hold the steering wheel!