Bye Bye to Coconut Palms on South Padre Island (climate, hot, warm)
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I believe they grow there in a select few isolated hot spots, otherwise you would see them everywhere. They epitomize tropical and the tourism and local promoters of SPI would have them planted all over the place like S. Florida. However, It was only a matter of time before Brownsville and South Texas got what usually happens every ten years or so. This is the real reason why there are no Coconut Palms on SPI and why they do exist in S. Florida. South Florida never ever reaches lows like this.
Current temp in Port Isabel is 33 at 1PM. Current in Brownsville is 34. Forecast low tonight for Brownsville is 24, high tomorrow 36, low tomorrow night 28, and high Friday 44. SPI will be a couple degrees warmer, but certainly not enough for a coco palm to survive. To survive, the soil temp around the roots must remain above 60 degrees F. No way after these few days. I think even the few small ones growing there now will be gone after this.
I am sure they can be replaced. The last time something of this magnitude happened was in Febrary of 1989. And, with the tourism business being the way it is, you can almost bet that anything lost will be replanted.
I heard that the cold even extends into Mexico.. I'm talking with my friend in Monterrey now.. he says it's 1C (34F) in the middle of the afternoon.. this is at 25N!!
I am sure they can be replaced. The last time something of this magnitude happened was in Febrary of 1989. And, with the tourism business being the way it is, you can almost bet that anything lost will be replanted.
Ian
I wonder why though. Spend the money on species native to the area. They are not meant to grow there. This happens to Texas every few years. Look at the all time low for Brownsville. I think it is something like 12 F. That is not tropical. With these temps, I wouldn't even classify it as subtropical. Maybe warm temperate.
I am sure they can be replaced. The last time something of this magnitude happened was in Febrary of 1989. And, with the tourism business being the way it is, you can almost bet that anything lost will be replanted.
Ian
I wonder if they grow quickly enough to reach a reasonable size if something like this happens once every 10-20 years.
Otherwise, they couldn't get to a few stories high before the next one comes (not sure how quickly coconut palms grow but I heard palms in general grow somewhat slowly).
I heard that the cold even extends into Mexico.. I'm talking with my friend in Monterrey now.. he says it's 1C (34F) in the middle of the afternoon.. this is at 25N!!
On that map with the lows El Paso was 6F or something ridiculous (though I know it's at elevation). And when they had that summit in Cancun a few weeks back I think it was abnormally cold for them, though nothing special per se.
I wonder if they grow quickly enough to reach a reasonable size if something like this happens once every 10-20 years.
Otherwise, they couldn't get to a few stories high before the next one comes (not sure how quickly coconut palms grow but I heard palms in general grow somewhat slowly).
They could uproot ones from somewhere more tropical and replant them there. That's what they sometimes do with the palm trees in this country at least.
I wonder why though. Spend the money on species native to the area. They are not meant to grow there. This happens to Texas every few years. Look at the all time low for Brownsville. I think it is something like 12 F. That is not tropical. With these temps, I wouldn't even classify it as subtropical. Maybe warm temperate.
S. Florida is not "technically" tropical. Its just a modified subtropical. Yet, they too grow somethings not indeginous to the region. For the most part, coconut palms CAN grow moderately easy in deep S. Texas (coastal), as these type of things are quite rare. Even S. Florida occasionally will see a freeze, although quite rarely. Miami has been down into the upper 20s before, with West Palm Beach being as low as 24.
The only reason S. Florida is as warm as it is, is due to it being surrounded by water to the east, south, and west. Otherwise, it would be in the same boat as S. Texas.
Ian
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