enigma99a

With tonight being the last (hopefully! lol) temp below freezing for the winter, I want to say it was been HORRIBLE. In another thread (Spring is here), I stated it has been twice as long than normal, but I decided to compile data and find out. To my surprise, it has been nearly 3 winters in one... wow

Winter 2009/10 first & last day under 32 - Dec 6th to Dec 10th (4 days total)
Winter 2008/09 first & last day under 32 - Dec 17 - Feb 11 (56 days total)
Winter 2007/08 first & last day under 32 - Dec 9 - Jan 1 (23 days total)
Winter 2006/07 first & last day under 32 - Nov 29 - Jan 23 (55 days total)

Average - 34.5 days.

And now 2010/11 first & last day under 32 - Nov 24 - Feb 27

95 days. or 2.75 times longer than average. Good riddance winter of 2010!!!!

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Average January Low: 40°F, Average August High: 95°F
Typical Low Each Winter: 28-30°F, Typical High Each Summer: 108-110°F, Annual Precipitation: 22 inches

Bob

Same on the east coast. One of the worst I can remember. If my spine could talk I'm sure it would have a few choice words about just how painful this winter really was!

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stevelau1911

It has been one of the worst winters so far with temperatures staying below average 3/4 the time, cloud cover almost on every single day, well above average snowfall, and it probably won't let up any time soon. It's just plain depressing.

Anyways I'm hoping that we can get a warming trend where day time highs exceed 32F for more than just a couple days. I need to be in the south.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

Velutina

Dec 31-Feb 3rd (35 days between first and last day under 32F)

Total of 5 days below 32F. One day below 30F (28F)

Forecasts say it might freeze in some parts of the valley tonight/tomorrow, but my area is usually 5 degrees above the "official" temps for Las Vegas (taken at the airport).

Spring will be here on monday when temps raise back into the 60/70s with lows above 45F. Average lows for this time of year are 45-50F in my area.

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Adam

AmberNichole

It got pretty cold here too. Luckily it wasn't as bad as last year and almost all my bananas survived. It has been really hot here the last couple weeks and the bananas are coming back!

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The Hollyberry Lady

planetrj

Even in Zone 10 here we had broken our frost records an unprecedented 9 times since December. We usually have one or two frosts ever 4 or 5 years, and this year in my city, we had 8 frosts in 1 year. This past fall, I had 9 flags which developed into 8 crops, and have lost 7 of 8 of them due to surprise (unforecasted) frosts.

Last night was *crossing fingers* the last surprise frost on my mesa. I have lost most of the newly opened leaves on bananas and half of my coffee trees have crinkled foliage, which probably means a poor spring crop. I still have yet to see if I lost the last unprotected developing bananas, and at this point, they might not show visible damage until I get to open them and discover stony fruit.

I am with you all! Summer cannot get here fast enough!!

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you will never have enough bananas ^_^

sunfish

Tonight is forecast to be colder than last night

Regional Forecast for San Diego County Coastal Areas
Tonight
Clear. Lows 32 to 42. Light winds.

GoAngels

I stupidly left my potted DC and Siam Ruby in the middle of the yard and every leaf died overnight. Most everything in the ground seems to be fine. Weather underground had us bottoming at 30.3 degrees last night but my cheapy weather station says we got down to 27.

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rick2001

Southern Europe has suffered form a very cold winter too...
I live in the coastal area of Rome's surrounding (usually 2 or 3 degrees above Rome's average temps) , where usually we get three to five "around zero" (celsius) nights per year , between Jan. and Feb and not every year.
This winter took freezing temps at least 10 nights due also to high humidity, always present in my area, and one day we reached -4 degrees, that's almost unheard here as far I can remember.
I had water pipes frozen for few hours (the pipes that run over the roof and link to the thermic solar plant)....unbeliavable. (if you want to see the results on my nanas you can find a topic in the european section)
I'm not saying that I live in a tropical enviroment, but mediterranean climate is known to be mild, and at less than 30 meters from the sea it should be milder..

Tomorrow is March the 1st... come on , Spring...... wheere are you ?

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Planter56

I can sympathize with all of you. It's been a very difficult winter here in Buffalo, NY. I was wondering thorough my garden's and it seems that the local rabbits made dinner of many of my bushes. It looks like someone took a hedge clipper to them. My basement was colder this winter as well and I've lost 2 of my crinums to rot. At least one had some pupps attached so I could at least pot them up. The third one looks rather sick. I cut off all the bad leaves and put it up in my living space for warmth. I lost some of my EE tubers as well due to the colder than normal basement. My rough tree fern even looked peeked, so I brought it up as well. With all the lack of sun over the winter my plants are looking worse than usual. So I can't wait to be able to get them outside again. But that usually isen't untl Mid May. I'm soooo looking forward to spring in 19 days.

Vickie H.

Here in Missouri zone 6 USA we have had a bad winter also. Maybe 30 inches of snow. And several days of below zero F. My musa basjoos lived even the winter of 2009 when it was minus 13 F several days. But they are mulched very well. My other bananas are in the basement and looking pretty rough. But they are alive. I have 9 shop lights on down there for my tropical plants. Plants being in a basement for 7 months or longer really takes its toll on them.

sunfish

DaveE

Same thing in Texas. We had an unexpected freeze (25F) early in the fall and of course I was out of town so nothing was protected.

Nov., Dec. and most of Jan. we had close to normal temps.

Then at the end of Jan. just when it started warming up and the bananas started growing again, we get 14 nights in a row below freezing and most of those were in the high teens to mid 20's. Just to add insult to injury, we had 54 hours straight of below freezing weather (20's) during that same event.

I am surprised that I didn't loose a single banana plant that was planted in the ground. Even a few p-stems look like they are going to make it.

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Nicolas Naranja

Man, I wish I had some pictures of how we cleared the banana patch that got frozen back at work. Lit it on fire and thinned it out to stalks that will fruit 6 months from now. IF you are out in the country and can burn it is a great way to remove the dead leaves.

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Some people go bananas, I went plantains.

kaczercat

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for ya im sure it made it ! that big ol thing ! ! I went out today to check my basjoo and looking good. stuck my finger into the soil outside where its planted and felt a firm corm. had christmas lights around the soil.

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Matt

stevelau1911

I planted both my basjoos 1ft deep, have them wrapped up in plastic and surrounded by leaf bags, but with all the extreme cold this year of -23C I don't think the main stem is making it, but I'm hoping that underground it is still viable. My gunnera manicata made it through and it only has 1 leaf bag on it which gives me some hope since it is also a corm based plant.

Way up north where we are, there probably won't be any banana growth until late May or early June especially with the persistent cold weather all winter. I'm actually hoping for them to stay down until June if they are still alive just so they don't fry from a late frost.

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I'm in zone 6 upstate NY, specialize in growing temperate cold hardy bamboos(mainly phyllostachys) and starting to get into bananas.

my picture website is http://www.flickr.com/photos/31489820@N02/

http://stevespeonygarden.blogspot.com/

sunfish

Even with this damage it's still growing.

Red Iholena