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Post by flowerweaver on Dec 26, 2015 20:47:27 GMT -5
DarJones I'm glad you were spared from the tornadoes! It's unseasonably warm here, 76 degrees, with snow forecast later this week, go figure.
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Post by philagardener on Dec 26, 2015 20:49:59 GMT -5
Lots of changeable weather out there! Stay safe, everyone!
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Post by reed on Dec 27, 2015 6:38:38 GMT -5
It's 70 degrees this morning at 6:30 am with a steady warm breeze blowing in all night form the south. Actually got warmer over night. This is the worst I'v ever seen as far as plants not knowing to go dormant and others that did not knowing it isn't time to wake up. Buds are swelling on lots of trees, lilacs will be in bloom before long if it keeps up. Some grape vines have little leaves. At this point even one really cold spell is gonna be bad. If it doesn't happen soon it will be really really bad.
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Post by flowerweaver on Dec 27, 2015 14:26:13 GMT -5
reed looks like you're getting hit by the same big winter storm that rrolled through around 2 am, bringing more rain. There's been northerly gusts of 40 mph. Temperature is dropping fast, may get into the teens tonight. Now under a winter advisory predicting a wintery mix of sleet and snow through 6 pm. I'm watching the ice band creep closer and closer on the radar. I suppose winter has arrived in my part of the world!
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Post by steev on Dec 27, 2015 18:31:04 GMT -5
Last night was clear and frosty in Oakland; possible showers tonight, then clear (so cold) the rest of the week.
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Post by philagardener on Dec 27, 2015 19:37:21 GMT -5
Freezing rain for our forecast, Monday through Tuesday, after setting more record warm temps today. Saw some peach trees blooming in NJ - they are not going to be happy :<(
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Post by steev on Dec 28, 2015 3:12:44 GMT -5
So many plants and animals are going to have trouble dealing with the climate change we've caused; well, those that can adapt will do OK.
It's splattering right now, not that it will amount to anything.
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Post by flowerweaver on Dec 28, 2015 11:42:51 GMT -5
Last night, briefly snow! My friend and former colleague Jonathan Ogren has a book coming out in the spring of 2016 on how climate change has shifted plant communities in the Texas landscape. As a botanist living in an area where three ecosystems come together, I have seen this shift over the past 15 years. He has shared this map of how the USDA zones have moved northward in 16 years, which is fairly disturbing. On the bright side I may soon be able to grow citrus...  |
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Post by richardw on Dec 28, 2015 13:13:23 GMT -5
What determines a plant zone would be minimum nighttime temps, changes over my lifetime have been huge, back in the 60's our local district council had plans to convert an old disused quarry into an outdoor ice rink, gees most winters now ya would have hope in hell of accumulating enough ice to even support a sparrow convention. Surely you could grow at least some citrus types now couldn't you flowerweaver , its all about nursing them through the first 10 years or so. |
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Post by flowerweaver on Dec 28, 2015 14:16:15 GMT -5
Most of the frost hardy citrus available came out as survivors of a deep freeze in the south Texas citrus fields many years ago. Unfortunately they are sold out of Georgia, and are for some unknown reason now banned for re-entry into my state. I had a Satsuma orange for a year but it died under frost protection the next after an unusually cold spell. My apples died of cotton root rot. Most of my other 10 yo non-citrus fruit trees died in the drought. Only the fig has survived it all.
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Post by squishysquashy on Dec 28, 2015 19:25:18 GMT -5
Here's a look at North Texas this Christmas weekend...Tornadoes steered clear of Arlington, but we got some good sized hail.  |
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Post by RpR on Dec 28, 2015 21:57:50 GMT -5
What determines a plant zone would be minimum nighttime temps, Bingo! If anyone up here tried to sell climate change on day-time temp., one could make them out to be a dweeb but while day-time temps are really not even close to what truly warm years have been, the night time lows are often a goodly deal higher than what was the norm even if the day-time highs are nothing abnormal. As far as region change, ten years ago I felt the zones were going north but before this year, the past five winters would have killed most anything for anyone who tried to grow plants out of zone pretty much whole-sale, without abnormal winter care. How deep the frost goes up here determines whether or not most plants live and we had some very deep frosts due to very hard freezes for several years, which is really just normal. I remember well two years ago, that at my Dad's old house in January, taking water out of the non-softened drinking faucet, and we have deep pipes, it was great because it was so cold but it was cold enough that drinking too much, too quickly was as uncomfortable as drinking ice water, out of a frosted glass, too quickly. Did not take long though to make ice cubes in the freezer. |
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Post by mskrieger on Dec 29, 2015 10:25:18 GMT -5
We got blasted with snow, sleet, and now rain up here. It's about time. Makes things feel almost normal. The whole warm-wet-dark-December-fog thing was just too creepy. Felt like we were living in Scotland or something.
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Post by RpR on Dec 29, 2015 14:23:24 GMT -5
I feel very sad for those who were hit by tornadoes but I wish we had the snow they had in New Mexico.
We now have about three inches on the ground and the three to four inches we were supposed to get last night never showed up, nor from just looking at the clouds at news time did I think it was coming even though they were babbling about it.
I play Christmas Music till the Orthodox Christmas, January 7, and at least now it feels correct with the snow on the ground.
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Post by steev on Dec 29, 2015 21:54:55 GMT -5
Went to the farm today; there were patches of snow in the shade down to 11 or 12 hundred feet.
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