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California Gardening

28 degrees in Bay Area at 7 am this morning

15 years ago

The elephant ears were not happy.

Otherwise, things looked okay.

The paths were crunchy under my feet.

Water in bird bath was frozen.

Nippy now at 9 am but sunny.

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Comments (14)

stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
I had 39.5 in Hayward,but in the early morning drive to Pleasanton it was a winter wonderland there.
sautesmom Sacramento
15 years ago
Did you mean "29.5" in Hayward? 39.5 wouldn't produce a winter wonderland, but a balmy spa compared to the rest of us! LOL

Carla in Sac
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Jay, that is too cold. We only went down to 30 here. We had nice but not excessively warm temperatures a couple of days ago. We have had some days in the upper 80s and at least one in the lower 90s this spring, but mostly we have had pleasant days in the 70s with a freezing or frosty night or two each week. It seems like every time we go into the upper 70s through the lower 90s, we then have a cold front roar thru within a day or two, dropping us back into the 30s. I am so tired of that. I hate hearing that about the wheat crop. It sure seems harder than ever to farm nowadays. I have planted all the tomato plants in the big garden that I am going to put there, but only put the last ones in the ground on Monday afternoon. I think the first ones went into the ground about 10-12 days ago. All of them are covered up with recently-purchased extra heavy duty row cover that gives 10 degrees of protection. I feel so behind because of these recurring cold nights. On at least one of them, we were 9 degrees colder than our forecast low so I have been slow to put warm-season plants in the ground this year. Beginning tomorrow I hope to start putting some warm-season seeds like beans, squash and cukes in the ground. Our forecast for tonight is 36 but I expect it will go lower than that, so I won't remove the row cover until tomorrow morning. Are y'all expecting low temperatures again tonight? Mike, I expect your plants will be fine. I used blankets over buckets for many years before I started using row cover and they generally protected plants at temperatures as low as 28 degrees. Dawn
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Jay, I cannot believe anyone in your zone would be putting warm-season plants in the ground. I haven't seen anyone down here in my part of our county even transplant their tomatoes into the ground yet. I think everyone remembers the three late frosts we had last year. I do think after tonight that people here in our part of zone 7 might start planting out their tomatoes, but certainly not their peppers. We were forecast to go to 43, then 40, then 37 and then, finally 40 last night (don't like the forecast--wait a day and it will change, lol) and we went to 34 degrees. Tonight we're forecast to go to 38 and I suspect we'll go lower because the air is perfectly still and there are no clouds. Now that the sun has set, I think the temperatures will fall like a brick. I covered up Maddie's garden because she has some warm-season flowers planted as a border around her potato bed and she has fruit and flowers on the plants in her strawberry patch. There really wasn't anything in my garden to cover because all my stuff is cool-season stuff. The weather looks good here for the next week, but I need to study the long-range forecasts a little before I make the decision about when to put tomato plants in the ground. My soil temps are good, and my daytime highs are good, but I feel like the nighttime temps are a little iffy still. We are 10 days past our average last frost date here, but I'm not in a hurry to plant because the recent trend has been to have late freezes. I might change my mind after I spend an hour or two studying the long-range forecasts. Dawn
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Jay, Our odd weather irritates me! It isn't fair that with an average last frost date for my county of March 27th, there I sat with frost on the morning of April 28th, is it? Our forecast for Sunday night is for 44, and I bet I have frost early Monday morning too unless that forecast changes. I'll be ready this time and will either cover up tender vegetation or have the sprinkler in place and ready to turn on briefly in the early morning hours to wash the frost off the plants. You know, I wouldn't mind the odd weather so much if we were 5 or 10 degrees cooler than the surrounding area in summer, but sadly that doesn't happen. Our first August here, we had a heat wave where the highs varied from 108 to 111 (113 in nearby Ardmore) for about a week....and Tim's relatives from Pennsylvania were in town visiting and they were just dying in the heat. In Fort Worth, we rarely got above 105, so 108 to 111 was a huge shock. Then, we had an "early" hard killing freeze before the end of September. Yet, some years we don't have a killing frost until mid-December. If any of you can figure out my weather and explain it to me, please do so! Y'all are burdened with the wild wind lately, aren't you? Does the wind ever stop blowing there? Gordon Graham, who you might remember as the grower of the world's largest tomato on record, used to stack two Wall-O-Waters on top of each other to protect tall plants. If I remember correctly, he put wooden surveyor's stakes inside the first WOW, hammered into the ground, for support. After the first WOW was filled, he'd place the second one on top and then fill it. Although it didn't say (that I can recall) in his little "how to grow large tomatoes" booklet, I always assumed he used 3' tall stakes so that they would give partial support to the second WOW and keep it from collapsing inward on top of the plant. If you have Marvin Meisner's "Giant Tomatoes" book, which is the best book I've read on growing tomatoes in general whether you want to grow large tomatoes or normal ones, there is a reprint of Gordon Graham's little booklet near the end of the book. My potato plants that got bit back a couple of weeks ago have finally shown some good regrowth. I was starting to wonder if they would. Chalk it up to the weather that see-saws wildly from one extreme to another. I'd be confused if I were a plant too. I'm excited that you'll be getting your plants in the ground soon. It never feels like spring is really here until you're out slaving away in the garden planting your tomatoes. That's when I feel winter truly has ended. I hope this week's cold spell is the last. However, since we had June type temperatures earlier in April, who knows what the weather will do next? We've never had frost or freeze damage here after May 3rd or 4th, so I'm eager for those days to get here so I can stop worrying about it. Dawn
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stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
Carla,the 39.5 was in Hayward.The below 32 was in Pleasanton where it looked mid western. Sharp difference- here around Hayward at dawn,big lawns had a light patch of white here and there-IF you looked close. Out in Pleasanton the big lawns and roadsides where white and crystaly.
wanda
15 years ago
Frost in San Jose and snow on the Mt. Hamilton range in front of my house, but then, it is December. None of the plants got nipped, but of course the coleus and NG Impatiens are toast as was expected. Cyclamen were waiting in the "wings" to take their places.
All my tender plants are planted in protected locations (under trees/eaves/etc) and are on their own.

But to heck with the plants.....*I'm* freezing!!!! Highs only in the 40's today.

On the plus side, all the native wildflowers are springing up with the recent rains. Probably the weeds too....this is when I start my "weeding season". It will continue weekly until the rains stop. Not this week though...too darn cold. LOL

wanda
marilyn34
15 years ago
As soon as I hear those three dreaded words - "Gulf of Alaska"- on the TV weather report, I know we are in for a seige of misery. It used to be just a short lived period of time, but the recent lows are unusually brutal, because they are continuing on and on, with no breaks. Yes, I was here in 1990 and all the way back into the 50's, but I don't recall it ever being so bad, this early, and for such an extended period of time. Maybe I blot unpleasant things out of my memory that I hate, and I HATE snow and freezin temps!
Predictions for tonight, are that temps will not go as low, but then will drop again tomorrow, (Friday) and will stay well below freezing over the weekend.
One of the reporters said that is a chance of a tropical rain storm coming in around Christmas, that will warm things up and drop a significant amount of moisture! I hope the predictions are right on that one!
caavonldy
15 years ago
If we get anymore of that "Global Warming", we will all freeze to death. It was 24 here in Orland. The Christmas tree lights are saving my citrus trees.
Donna
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
It was about 50 today at sunrise-heatwave!
Dick_Sonia
15 years ago
Actually these kinds of cold snaps are perfectly consistent with what global climate change predicts. Remember, "global warming" doesn't mean that the West Coast is getting MILDER, it only means that the average annual temperature is on the rise. Also on the rise is the degree of both winter and summer thermal extremes. In another 7 months people will be complaining that they don't remember having heat spells this severe in the past. In addition to higher highs in summer and lower lows in winter, West Coast climatologists are predicting that the dry season will be longer and more intensely arid, and that winter flooding will increase from more concentrated rainfall. Gardeners who thought there might be a silver lining to global climate change just didn't understand the theory.
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
Far more heat records fall every year than cold records.That's a fact. Add urban warming where millions of people live and you DO have a milder climate. That 28f could have been 20f 150 years ago pre-industrial revolution. But no,G.W. doesnt mean the end of winters as we know them!
caflowerluver
15 years ago
It has been in the 30's here at night in the Santa Cruz Mts. area for the last couple of weeks. Lots of frost every morning. And the highs have been in the 50's. Sure seems a lot colder then usual and I have lived here for 31 years. My semi-tropical and tropical plants are suffering.
Clare
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
15 years ago
It's going to warm up next week. :)
hosenemesis
15 years ago
I'm suspicious of warmer weather. My half-dead plants will rally, only to be taken out with a nice freeze in January. Evil, capricious Southern California weather!
stanofh 10a Hayward,Ca S.F. bay area
15 years ago
Hey, a taste of spring today..62.1 after a morning of 45..almost like mid March.
tammysf
15 years ago
got up to 70 today!!

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