The frigid predictions left me dreading my first glimpse of the tropical garden this morning. But, rather than the 25 predicted, we had a low of 28.5 here in central Houston. Some areas had a predicted low of 21 to 25, so I was more than relieved. It will be another cold night, but the cloud bank is thickening and rolling in over the region. That's good for a 3 to 5 degree moderation. Light breezes are worth 1 to 2 degrees of moderation as well. And crossing my fingers...well, it just makes me feel better. :-)
Last night the NWS had a current temp of 35 at 10 PM at Hobby Airport. I always figure a 1 degree drop per hour with 7 AM having the lowest reading. That was going to be a number around 28. Sometimes that prediction holds and sometimes it turns out that the temp is lower if the air is still and the ground is dry. We have almost saturated soil right now, so that helped as well.
Just 5 more weeks of this Weather Russian Roulette and the threat of VERY severe cold is over.
Clouds shown with the trees across the street. Even a few clouds can be good news.
About 1/2 of Tropical Texana is cold hardy. Lady fern and variegated alstroemeria can take a frost.
I feel your pain. 5 more weeks!!! They'll fly by....why do we stress over all this? Is it the money we've spent on the plants? Or is it the time watering and pruning them?:)It's stressful. I hope you keep getting the warmer temps...28 is definitely better than than the 21 or 22 degrees. I don't worry so mcuh about 28 when it's only an hour or two, but when it hits 21, I don't sleep at night. That's when the sheets come out! Good luck.
ReplyDeleteI'm glad Tuesday night's freeze didn't do too much damage to your tropicals. I'm seeing a lot of blackened foliage on my corner of Katy, which doesn't surprise me. When I checked the patio thermometer at 7:30 am Wednesday, it was 26 degrees here!
ReplyDeleteThanks for the blog! Up here in Dallas we;re totally freezing and it's great to see some of "tropical Texas" :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteLovely clouds they are, too! May the next 5 weeks go by quickly and uneventfully for you.
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