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Don't mean to rant, but those Coconuts on South Padre Island, TX I posted pictures of a while ago are not stunted(they're fruiting!). South Padre Island is MUCH MUCH MUCH warmer then Orlando or Tampa.
NO doubt South Padre Island is one of the warmest areas on the USA mainland in winter…but I’m not quite sure it is so much warmer than Tampa or Orlando: Here are their respective numbers for Dec/Jan/Feb (high/low):
Orlando (Tampa is similar):
Dec – 73/52
Jan – 72/50
Feb – 74/51
In terms of annual mean temps…all three locations (Port Isabel…Orlando…and Tampa) …have a mean annual temp within 1 F of each other. Also, I haven’t been to Orlando in a number of years…but there are coconut palms well up both the East Coast and West coast of Florida…St-Pete is loaded with them:
How did December and February become colder then January, lol?
Jan: 67/52
Feb: 70/55
Dec: 69/54
Averages are similar, but absolute lows are quite different. South Padre Island is about 2 degrees warmer then Port Isabel.
I know those coconut palms....here they are after this winter
And a coconut palm at Leu Gardens in Orlando
A South Padre Coconut after this years winter for comparison(notice the fruit)
What IS grown and what CAN be grown are two different things.
Tampa and Orlando both logged 25F for this years absolute low, Port Isabel logged 30F, South Padre's was around 32F.
St.Pete's low was 28F.
Crown of the South Padre coconut:
Another tender plant, screw pine(Pandanus utillis), undamaged after this years winter
I apologize for hijacking this thread.
How did December and February become colder then January, lol?
Jan: 67/52
Feb: 70/55
Dec: 69/54
Averages are similar, but absolute lows are quite different.
Sorry I messed up the order of the months. At all three locations it looks like January is the coldest month. Here they are again according to their respective NWS sites:
South Padre Island (Port Isabel data – 5 miles away): National Weather Service Climate
Dec – 69/54
Jan – 67/51
Feb – 68/48
Orlando (Tampa is similar):
Dec – 73/52
Jan – 72/50
Feb – 74/51
According to the NWS – they all have a mean annual temp of 72 – 73 F. As far as lows this year…keep in mind this was one of the coldest winters in Florida in 30 years. Some records down in Miami that stood since 1927 fell. As far as abolute record lows…I checked the NWS sites. Here is what I found. It looks like Port Isabel has a lower all time record low than both Orlando and Tampa:
PORT ISABEL (417179)
Extremes
Lowest Daily Minimum Temperature (degrees F)
Days: 1/1 - 12/31
Length of period: 1 day
Years: 1928-2010
Usually when something happens to Florida, it happens to South Texas, this was also South Texas's coldest winter since 1989, tied with 2004. When a 100 year arctic invasion invades the Deep South, Texas will always be more vulnerable, because it's not surrounded on two sides by water, but 1 or 2 degrees in record temperature really doesn't make much difference.
You still have South Padre's average weather wrong, February is not colder then January.
Plus, South Padre Island and Port Isabel are a hair different, but different enough that it matters.
5 miles may not change the temperature much on land, but when its 5 miles of Southern Gulf water, it does. That's like saying Miami and Key Biscayne have the same weather, they're very similar, but not the same.
Absolute lows over a long period of time are more important, then 1 year out of 100 years when Port Isabel was colder then Tampa. If you were to average the absolute lows for Port Isabel and Tampa/Orlando for any amount of time, Port Isabel would win.
Also, notice Port Isabel has only had 7 days at or below 23F, while Tampa and Orlando both have 10 days at or below 23F.
Yeah I dunno how we got into Bahamas in the subarctic thread.
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