Ron,
This winter has been mild. Lets just hope things continue!

My garden has also seen only one morning below 32f.... but it was only 31.8f for a few seconds....causing no damage to any banana leaves.
I use bananas as a first freeze indicator, as the leaves out in the open will definitly see damage below freezing.

Jeff

The above followup was added by Jeff on December 31, 2002 at 10:27 pm PST.

How come you guys have such a fast winter?, we are only just starting to get into our warm summer now and our winter doesn't normally get nasty untill late July through August untill mid September

The above followup was added by Jason on December 31, 2002 at 10:43 pm PST.

Jason,

For most practical purposes, I consider winter here to be a time when there is a regular threat of a freeze and our average daily high temp is below 60f.
For us here in the valley, that is from about the first week in December untill the last week in January.

We don't have much of a " Winter lag period " as we are in a very large valley that runs from north to south. Our valley warms quickly with the longer days of late winter / early spring.
In January/Feb/ March , our average daily high temp rises almost 1 degree per week.

In my opinion, our winter sux! The only reason that I find it bearable is the fact that it only lasts two months. We should celebrate Thanksgiving in Feb!

The months of Dec/ Jan are cold and damp. Warm days are rare. Temps of about 68f / 10c come only about 1 in 10 years during our 2 month winter, but are quite common in Feb!

In Dec/Jan... Its either raining, foggy or a cold wind is blowing. I have heard our winters compare to England's...minus the snow.

So as you can see, when half of our winter is over...without a major freeze, there is much excitment.
We shouldn't forget, however that last year Dec. was quite mild... then Mother nature unleashed some pretty chilly temps mid Jan to the first week of Feb.

My fingers are crossed!

Jeff

The above followup was added by Jeff on December 31, 2002 at 11:26 pm PST.

Jeff, you said

"The months of Dec/ Jan are cold and damp. Warm days are rare. Temps of about 68f / 10c come only about 1 in 10 years during our 2 month winter, but are quite common in Feb!"

Do I understand this right, you don't expect to get daytime highs of 10c for 2 months straight???? That can't be right can it? I must have misunderstood you.

The above followup was added by Ben on January 01, 2003 at 2:00 am PST.

Looking at long-term data base averages (like the WRCC) without the benefit of standard deviations, it would seem that the pit of winter cold hits its nadir around Dec. 26 or 27. Yet, if memory serves me correctly, there is nonetheless a much greater chance of dire freezes in the six weeks on the outgoing side of the winter solstice than coming into it. Looking at averages with standard deviations shows this, but looking at simple averages gives a false impression of being past the worst of it by the time New Year's Day rolls around.

The above followup was added by Steve in Brookings on January 01, 2003 at 5:09 am PST.

We rarely see temps above 20c in Dec or Jan.
(20c = 68f.)

My mistake in the conversion.

Jeff

The above followup was added by Jeff on January 01, 2003 at 7:49 am PST.

Steve,
Based on my experiance. New years day is the halfway point. Winter seems to continue for about 4 weeks more.

Jeff

The above followup was added by Jeff on January 01, 2003 at 7:51 am PST.

At least for me. The shock from fall weather and the shortest day of the year make for bad company. Even if the chance for freezes are greater in January, every day past Dec 21 the days get longer and the plants get more hardened off. Just my observations from a frost hollow in suburban LA.

The above followup was added by Tom on January 02, 2003 at 8:49 am PST.

I have noticed my two Moi papayas are taking far more frost and cold soil then the young plants which died from soil temps much warmer this last spring. The bottom foot of each one is not fleshy growth, and is not bothered by the wet dew damage, the newer fleshy growth is having.

When it got down to 36.8, caused little black specks on all nanners, but the Rajapuri. The 36.8F stopped them from growing, but with some warming, they started growing, and where picking up speed, even though we got temps down to 35F, later on. They seemed not to be bothered by the mid 30F temps, after the first shock. The Namwah and Dwarf Brazilian made a growth spurt, just before they got burned some, with the late Dec frost of 31.8F. I was surprised to see such growth, in the middle of winter. The Dwarf Brazilian put out 1 leaves in 1week and the the Namwah shoved out 2 feet of a new leaf, still not unfurled, when the 31.8 F hit. I was impressed by the growth push, following a warm rain storm.

David

The above followup was added by David, Waterford CA, zone9 on January 03, 2003 at 5:24 am PST.