Hard Freeze: Day 2

ABOVE: A few birds in a drainage ditch. Of most interest were the large number of endangered Wood Storks, hunched over here (Mycteria americana).

We survived another night of hard freeze. It looked like snow this morning. . .everything covered with a 1/2" layer of frost. Here in Debary we had over 4 hours at 29 F., but nothing colder. The plants were all bundled. . .the feral cats were in boxes and on electric blankets on the porch. There is a lot of what appears to be minor crop and tropical plant damage in Debary.

ABOVE: A completely frozen, 20' tall sunflower tree (Tithonia diversifolia) in Debary, at sunset yesterday.

Yesterday in Deltona it appeared there had been no freeze. I hope to find the same today. There, I left water flooding the yard-to-lake in an attempt to save the most spectacular tropical foilage.

ABOVE: Very delicate and easily damaged Centipede Tongavine (Epipremnum pinnatum (L.) Engl.), stretching 30' up into the trees at the lakehouse. The vine was completely unaffected by the extreme weather. This plant is often sold and misidentified as "pothos."

I thought this paragraph interesting. I found it while reviewing the data at the NCDC (National Climatic Data Center). . .that 6 years and 2 days ago. . . .

"Early morning low temperatures on January 24th, 2003, dropped well below freezing across east central Florida. Temperatures ranged form 24 degrees in Leesburg and 25 in Daytona Beach to 29 in Melbourne and 27 in Orlando. To the south, Ft. Pierce and Vero Beach reported lows near 30. Later that morning, winds shifted off the ocean producing a few snow flakes in the coastal communities from Daytona Beach to Ft. Pierce."

A positive note to share from reviewing the data. This weather doesn't happen very often in east central Florida.