Batton down the hatches people!

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

It's coming! Later this week, forecast highs around 50°, mid-40's in the Tucson area for several days running. Supposed to be a fair amount of cloud cover, but a single cloudless night could spell disaster. I've not seen this kind of cold since I left the Midwest about 14 years ago. Currently drawing up battle plans with covers and Xmas lights to mitigate damage and save sensitive Sansevierias, Euphorbias and even a Zone 10 Agave or two. Send warm wishes to our Tucson residents in particular.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Mon Dec 27, 2010 7:32 pm Post subject:

Yah, let's hope the forecast is wrong. Anything further in the future than 3 days is usually a wild guess anyways.

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

Let's hope, this looks terrifying...

http://weather.weatherbug.com/AZ/Fountain%20Hills-weather/local-forecast/detailed-forecast.html?units=&stat=&zip=85268&AppName=VistaSidebar_WeatherBugLocalWeatherGadget&version=1.1.0.8&zcode=Z5831&uid=8332f650-5592-452d-9962-7aeae56c0f43

mullenium · Joined: 01 Apr 2010 Posts: 192

OMG for my zip code (85138 - Maricopa)

Thursday Night and Friday
Partly cloudy. Lows 19 to 29. Highs in the upper 40s to lower 50s.

I'm screwed

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

They've nudged forecast lows up a degree or two since last night. Every little bit helps!

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

24°. More on the way. Ouch. Sad

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2010 8:48 am Post subject:

Wow. Nasty. I am out of town so I don't know what things are like at my house. Usually I'm close to the Sky Harbor temperatures which was only down to 33. I was relieved to see that. I had a neighbor cover some things for me, in addition to things I had already covered and put a light bulb next to before I left. I have a thermostat that turns on the power when temps go below 40.

What was your location down to in the 2007 freeze? Where you down in the teens? I was down to 26 that time.

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

About the same as you in '07. I had a bougainvillea that dropped all its leaves, and that was about it. A hibiscus came through unscathed along with the rest. That said, there was botanic death and mayhem all over Fountain Hills and Scottsdale, it just didn't bite me that hard. I know it hit 16° in Chandler in '07, and I also know a fellow in Cave Creek who has no memory of the event. Amazing how that micro-climate thing seems to work out here.

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

Apparently, much of the Valley received an unexpected bounty of high winds and cloud cover last night. No such luck here. You may get lucky again, but you're supposed to get hammered tonight like I was last night. I of course, will get hammered even worse. Sat. night is supposed to be a little better, but still sub-freezing.

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

Forecast low tonight is 20°. Forecast low last night was 28°. This is gonna be ugly.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2011 11:02 am Post subject:

Well, looks like Sky Harbor only got down to 30. So, that is a relief. This wasn't near as bad as 2007 as far as I can tell. Looks like tonight will still be close to freezing so its best to leave stuff covered. Then we'll have to do the post mortem. I hope your stuff didn't get too hammered GermanStar. Let us know how it went.

GermanStar · Joined: 17 Jun 2010 Posts: 117 Location: Fountain Hills, AZ

22° here last night. I know frost damage doesn't always show right away, but the Furcraea is my only real bleeder, and the core is still dry. Almost no latex bleeding from the Euphorbia (a couple small spots), Zone 10 Agave seems OK, one Sansevieria seems OK, the other has a fair amount of peripheral damage. I suppose a true assessment is a few days away...

For me, this is far worse than '07. What happens here, and likely occurred in '07, though I can't honestly recall, is we get a fair amount of cloud cover while the rest of the Valley is clear. Both the Mazatzals and to a lesser extent, the McDowells, are sources of their own little micro-climates that generate clouds, leaving us cooler in the day, but warmer at night. It's quite common to stay in the 40's here, while the forecast low in Phoenix is mid to upper 30s.

A friend in east Mesa recorded 20° last night.

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2011 8:32 pm Post subject:

I just got home and was relieved that it wasn't near as nasty as 2007 at my house. In 2007 my Hong Kong orchid tree was frozen to the ground and this year it has no leaf damage at all. Like you said though, frost damage can take a while to really show. My most damaged plants were papayas and plumerias, both covered. The leaves are cooked on my big papayas out back but the papayas out front, the Tainung, are not and they were just covered. No lights or anything. Tainungs are truly starting to look like the miracle papaya for Phoenix. I'm planning to wait a week and I'll post a bunch of photos of my plants for those who are curious.

mullenium · Joined: 01 Apr 2010 Posts: 192

I used a plastic tarp on Saturday night on the row of dwarf cavendish on the western side of my house.. boy was that a mistake..

the bananas were already defoliated which is typical of them this time of year but I woke up to find that the plastic transferred the moisture inside and the tops of the banana's had some frost covering them.

hopefully they still grow back from the corm come spring time

phoenixtropicals · Posted: Mon Jan 03, 2011 1:42 pm Post subject:

They'll come back. Bananas are pretty much indestructible unless the ground freezes. Also, make sure you keep the ground relatively dry around them while its cold out. They will die from root rot if too wet in cold weather.