Looks like around the 9th-10th it’s gonna get very cold in Seattle, probably colder if you’re inland a bit. The weather model shows lows below 20 for Seattle proper, and the actual forecast is only slightly less extreme:
Either way, get ready for our coldest day of the winter. Make sure you know where your incandescent string lights and extension cords are, and no fuses need replacing.
thank you for the heads up!
It seems like at least once each year February does this to us. We’re looking at several days of zeroish weather here, but at least everything is still dormant.
We might be okay,if the temps don’t get too warm before then.It will probably also depend on how long the low,stays that way.A few hours,should be alright.
Most of the buds on my trees are swelling,especially the Plums,being the furthest along,but 23F shouldn’t be too much for them.
I, too, have been eyeing the 10-day forecast with dread! Same thing last Feb.-
low of 18F meant no peaches here.
Does anyone know about timing of spraying with water?
Do you wait till it’s 32F (hopefully hose is still flowing) and then spray?
I was thinking more about the zone pushers than the zone-appropriate fruit trees. I’m eyeing my jubaea especially… was hoping it would go a couple years before having to have a sub-20° night (as the models show, not the official forecast).
I’ve never used the technique, but my understanding is start spraying closer to 35 and keep spraying until a thick layer of ice forms. But that’s just from what I’ve seen online, no clue what the actual best practices are.
Also: the latest GFS model run just came out since my earlier post, looks a little less cold than before. Hopefully the beginning of a warmer trend, we’ll know more in 6 hours when the next GFS run drops. I wish I had access to the Euro model to compare, but alas I’m no moneybags.
Edit: scratch that, the latest run just shifted the coldest morning back to Thursday instead of Wednesday:
Next week our lows are predicted to 10F, 5F, -5F ,2F my outdoor in ground citrus trees are shaking in their own dirt.
So far, I am seeing 28F predictions for Tacoma. No buds yet, but there is some swelling beginning. If the forecast does not change, I should have nothing to worry about.
Here near Portland, its looking like 4 nights around 27 or 28F at night and low 40s in the day. My Nadia Cherry Plum is the most advanced towards blooming, at green tips. Other Japanese plums not too far behind.
I was hoping for some drier weather, but that’s when it gets cold at night, so maybe I’ll modify my hopes.
Looks like Cherries are 10% kill at 25F, so I shouldn’t have anything to worry about next week:
As soon as I make a big deal about it the forecast shifts warmer again… but I really don’t know how well the models handle the Fraser Valley effect, so I’ll keep acting like it’s gonna be real bad and maybe I can get it to shift even warmer
Yeah, looking at the latest model run for Thursday morning, I can’t see all that magenta and not worry that more is gonna leak through the mountains than expected:
Thanks for the great chart! I cut off a few peach buds to ID stage. I see I’m at swollen bud, not yet calyx green. Great visual. Will be printing to keep.
Here too. Southwest WA
I don’t think it will be a problem in my garden. A nice fig tree fell over last week. I think that might have been voles, or deer, or even hybrid vole-deer, and not weather related. I have Trachycarpus palms, one was damaged years ago at 9F but grew a new top. Also a Tasmanian alpine eucalyptus, which is meant to survive some freezing. Vole-deers don’t eat it. We will see.
I just do a google search when I’m curious about hardiness at different bloom stages.
What service gave that forecast. They seem to vary a great deal. This one has the lowest next week as 26 on Thursday:
I’m not a hunter but that would be a great head to mount over the mantel… the elusive vole-deer!
Murky, I dont know. It’s on the search screen when I searched weather with my zip code on duckduckgo. I thought it was weather.com but maybe not. Also the updates might change?
Single digits for Spokane.
And now the 10-day is calling for a couple days of snow in Seattle near the end of the cold snap. If that Thursday high is right, this could be a 36+ hour frost event.
Thank you for the warning!
