Post your zone, low to date for the winter of 2008/09

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:53 am

December 16th.
Zone 6a Toronto ON, and zone 4b/5a Sydenham ON.

Low to date:
Toronto (downtown): -11.1C
Sydenham: -19C

Expected winter low (average extreme min low):
Toronto (downtown): -19C
Sydenham: -28C

I'm expecting to see low temps in the -20's celsius range in the next couple weeks in Sydenham, and in the -16C range in Toronto. Cold thus far has not been too bad, but with cold temps out west I'm expecting some COLD weather in the next couple weeks.

How have you fared so far?

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:55 am

Low to date - Dec.16-08
overnight (sunrise) temp 16.9°F (-8.3°C)
Lantzville 325' elev. zone 8b

Closest reporting weather station for Environment Canada,
Nanaimo airport - 25 miles south of Lantzville.
Low to date - Dec.15-08 ~ -15°C (5°F)

Cheers, Barrie.

Cameron_z6a_N.S. · Post by **Cameron_z6a_N.S.** » Tue Dec 16, 2008 8:48 pm

Up to date - Dec. 17th/08
lowest overnight temp ~ -11 C
Bedford (Halifax), Nova Scotia
Zone 6a/6b

This winter has been fairly inconsistent. A big snowfall early on, but since then we have had temperatures in the mid teens, even yesterday it was around 7 or 8.

Cameron.

Cowtown Palm Society · Tue Dec 16, 2008 10:57 pm

Calgary, Alberta, Canada: -30.6 C

So far, 4B.

(Recorded at YYC-always at least a couple of degrees colder than, especially, the western part of the city)

For interest sake: Denver, Colorado's (a very similar climate to Calgary's-except the Chinooks are warmer, summer heat more intense and arctic fronts not quite as bitter) climate supports Yucca Rostrata (see Denver Botanical Gardens).

This season's low in Denver is -22.2 C.

But don't get me started on zones

, they really don't tell you much. Absolute lows are only a piece of the hardiness puzzle...but it's still fun for bragging rights and such. As far as palms are concerned though, much below zone 7, you're dealing with fairly serious winter protection.

Ezekiel93 · Post by **Ezekiel93** » Wed Dec 17, 2008 3:13 am

Brrr

You guys come from REAL North.

Here in Paris, we only had -3°C this month, but usually we will take sooner or later around -10°c

Knnn · Post by **Knnn** » Thu Dec 18, 2008 7:35 am

Zone 5 in North Central Kansas,
-5F / -20C on 12/17/08
(the coldest so far, the really cold stuff usually arrives in January

Steve

limoncik · Post by **limoncik** » Fri Dec 19, 2008 2:58 pm

Simferopol', area of 7b-8a. It was minimum -1 С (33 F) and without snow.

Michel · Post by **Michel** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 1:14 am

Z 8b/9a SW France
Low to date:-1°C/30°F in November, 0°C/32F in December. No snow so far.
Expected average winter low: -4°C/25°F to -5°C/23°F
Average extreme low, 22 years period, around -6°C/21°F
Extreme low 1986-2008: -8°C/17,6°F
20th century historical low: not known, probably -12°C/10.4°F to -13°C/8.6°F

Cowtown Palm Society · Sat Dec 20, 2008 9:48 am

I've done a little homework on Calgary's average yearly low, and I can safely declare that we're not zone 3A as the USDA map suggests.

People from Alberta might find this interesting (but probably not

).

Here's the lowest temps. from the last 8 years (Celsius), taken at the relatively cold airport (YYC):

2001: -26.8
2002: -33.1
2003: -32.3
2004: -33.8
2005: -35.0
2006: -30.1
2007: -26.1
2008: -33.3 (believe it or not set in January, not during this most recent blast which has spawned -31)

Average low= -31.3 = USDA zone 4B

I think this is a sufficient data set to safely declare Calgary zone 4A (but maybe even 4B). I hear you guys talking about the zone map being wrong, but I always though it seemed about right for Calgary. The numbers seem to defy this. Perhaps almost a decade is still not enough winters though, especially in light of what this winter appears it could deliver!

Edmonton, by the way, came in slightly warmer at -31.08. Of course, these zones don't tell you anything about the duration of cold and heat.

Thanks for listening...I'm done now.

Barrie · Post by **Barrie** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 5:26 pm

New low ... 13°F (-10.6°C) ~ overnight / early morning of Dec 19 / 20, 2008

Cheers. Barrie.

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:43 pm

This forum, pro meteorologists from Texas, contains frequent references to Canada's cold.
It's a long read, so maybe skip to page 112 and go backward...(thread started in November)!

http://www.khou.com/forums/viewtopic.ph ... 207ff84a09

These guys mentioned a phenomenon called Omega Block originating in Siberia...apparently it's bringing a "winter like 1989".

Barb

Okanagan desert-palms · Sun Dec 21, 2008 2:33 pm

Barb reading that forum these guys are actually hoping for a cold front!!! Maybe they could come for a visit for a month I have a shovel waiting for them! The lowest temperature here South Kelowna -21c zone 6 ,15 miles from the frozen Kelowna airport -28c. This is the coldest winter so far in ten years and it just officially started today. No telling what to expect the rest of the way.

John

lucky1 · Post by **lucky1** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:40 am

John,
Those guys are in Texas and actually look forward to a rare snowfall!
It's their references to where the weather systems originate that I found interesting.
One fellow posted "Poor BC".

We're only 35 miles north of you, and we hit -26.8C -16.2F.

Even my NEW ($$$) windows have ice around the "thermal break".
So much for EnergyStar ratings.
But anything's an improvement over the 31 year old aluminum windows that they replaced.

Barb

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 6:54 am

You guys keep the cold weather, okay?
As for us, it is officially an 'extreme cold weather alert' here in Toronto. I think they must say that whenever the temperature gets below -10C... It's currently -9C, but we did hit -15C, downtown, a few nights ago (quite unexpected actually, as the low was -12). That sort of thing easily happens after a snow storm when the sky is clear though!

yuccaman · Post by **yuccaman** » Mon Dec 22, 2008 7:37 am

Even though the BC coast had all that snow, I would still like to live there

Don't worry because we got hit by 3 storms in a row that all of them dropped 10-15 cm of snow and now we have 48 cm in our yard. Your snow will not last long.

Our coldest temperatures were -19C so around a 6b-7a. Right now it's -15C with -27C windchills.

I hope we all do not have a extreme winter like last year.

PALMETTOMAN · Post by **PALMETTOMAN** » Tue Dec 23, 2008 8:48 pm

So far I've recorded a clear and cold -15C as the low temp here in my yard in S. Ajax Zone 6 yard. Normally these type of temps don't hit us until around Jan 10 or so. Having said that our long range is looking above normal with some drying up.

All my protected palms have had only supplemental heat to date for about 2 or 3 nights..

Merry Christmas everyone!!

Palmettoman Z6-Ajax, On

Alchris · Post by **Alchris** » Mon Dec 29, 2008 1:16 pm

Edmonton city centre zone 3a. Temperature on Dec. 21/08 -31.1* C (NE Edmonton temperature was 2 or 3* colder).

Until winter 2007/2008 Edmonton city centre minimum temperature over the previous 10 years put our zone at a USDA zone 5a. Then we hit -36* C (officially) last winter. City centre ''official'' temps at the time were recorded as -39* C.

Allen

hardyjim · Post by **hardyjim** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 6:22 am

Zone 5b,coldest temps in 25 yrs,-5F,-11F,-17F,-18F,4 nights in a row,had already seen -2F,-2F and -4F in December.
What will February bring?

mutnaum · Post by **mutnaum** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:16 am

Zone6b, -1F(-18C) last Friday night. Last two winters we saw -2F and 0F so this was pretty normal for this area.

Paul Ont · Post by **Paul Ont** » Mon Jan 19, 2009 7:33 am

We hit -2f (-19C) in downtown Toronto, zone 6a.
My placenear Kingston (border of 4b and 5a) hit -20f (-29C) coldest in about 4 years, only once in the last 15 years have I recorded colder, -25f (-32C, I think) back in 2003!
So a 'zone' winter, but the real question is, will we get colder this year?

limoncik · Post by **limoncik** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 1:59 pm

We have at least this winter was -8. What is Zone 9a

PalmsNorth.com

Post your zone, low to date for the winter of 2008/09

Post your zone, low to date for the winter of 2008/09

"Omega Block" came from Siberia

temps