On the radio tonight they said it was the latest start to the ski season in 13 years.

Don't know where you are in Portland, but I've had 10 frosts, the first recorded Nov 14. Most those times even had to scrape ice from the windshield.

The frosts were mild, ranging from 32F -- barely qualifies but still had ice on the car -- to 25F. The 25F was two consecutive nights.

Whether or not you've had frost yet just depends on where you are. I've had a couple moderate frosts down to around 30F, but overall it's been mild.

In 1998-99 I didn't have frost until December 20, but this was a hard freeze that killed many of my plants. In 1999-2000 I didn't have frost until January.

I am a climate junkie, so I thought I would help you out. First, the official reporting station for the city of Portland is the airport. And the formal definition of "frost" is when the minimum temperature reaches 32 degrees or lower. So even if you see a light coating of frost on the grass, it will not count as a true frost from the standpoint of meteorological record keeping unless the air temperature (recorded 5 feet above the ground) reaches 32 or lower. So the "frost free" period for any location is strictly defined as the number of consecutive days without a temperature of 32 or lower. So, back to Portland. The official temperature at the airport reached 32 degrees for the first time this fall on Dec. 5 when the low temperature was 30 degrees. So technically, the growing season ended 5 days ago at Portland. The earliest fall frost (32 degrees or lower) on record at Portland was on October 8, 1985. The latest frost in spring on record was May 2, 1964. I couldn't find the record for the latest first occurrence of 32 degrees in fall, which is what you were asking about, but you might find it on the NWS Portland web site. See link provided.

Here is a link that might be useful: NWS Climate page for Portland

We've had frosts and freezes here in Park Place Oregon City. Froze the water in the bird baths. But have you heard what they're saying is about to hit? Coldest weather in 5 years? By Saturday! Yikes, my trees will be a couple weeks short of 3 years in the ground then. Lots of young Eucalypti. Praying and watering like crazy now to give them a chance and combat the freeze drying.

Likely your gums would have matured their growth better and been more hardy if you weren't keeping them damp. Most are dry climate trees (some kinds do occur in wet habitats) and may not reach their full level of hardiness on frequently irrigated or otherwise consistently moist soils.

It's true that allowing them to harden off in late summer and fall would have helped, but keeping them moist now certainly isn't a bad idea.

The late frost of Dec. 20 (my birthday!) 1998 or 9 plummeted to 6*F and killed my large Eucalyptus supposedly hardy to 0*F. I think it just didn't have time to harden off. If your trees are small enough I would suggest throwing a tarp over them. Sometimes putting a light bulb underneath can also add warmth, take care it doesn't come near the sides.

Nancy

Gum seedlings vary in hardiness by a fair margin even within the same batch of seed. Nobody can predict that an individual untested specimen will endure a specific temperature, let alone that an entire species is hardy to a particular temperature - as in "Your tree will be hardy to 0 degrees F. because it's an example of Eucalyptus such and so". That's why the table in the Sunset WESTERN GARDEN BOOK gives temperature ranges for each species.

After the first winter the first Euc scoparia endured, its top was frozen off. It was really small then. Almost 2 1/2 years later that Euc is over 30' tall and thriving. Hope it's OK through this. Planted another Euc scoparia 1 year 2 months ago, narrower leaves, and it got through last winter with no damage at all. Have a lot of Eucs that are rare, from Frank, but he moved back to Ohio and I'm not sure how to get more since Ian isn't down this way much. The Euc crenulata is still robustly flowering and growing really fast. Grown about 6' in the last 3 months. Thought it was a subcrenulata so planted it in the wrong location. None of my Eucs are able to be covered with anything anymore: too tall.

Have a nitens that is going totally bonkers but is still slender and tender. A camphora that is over 30' tall, growing like a weed, extremely beautiful. Volcanica that is robustly growing. Bogong that is reedy and growing too fast, can't hold itself up. Spinning wheel that is shooting up up and away.

On the other hand, the gorgeous Pinus monticola, native western white pine, hard to find, got it from an Xmas tree farm, died. Will try a little one. Really love these trees but my yard may be too shady and wet for it in the long run.

More watering like a maniac tomorrow. At least the moisture stays put unlike summer where the next day the heat has evaporated all my hard work. Rainfall is down so drastically here that I fear this freeze will finish off a lot of neighborhood trees. Ppl think it still rains cats and dogs so never think to go water during a drought. They see the pavement wet and don't realize it misted just enough to give the appearance of wet but that never made it past the grass blade tops.

I planted only water-loving Eucs here :-) And some that a very kind soul gave us for free, that I am not sure will make it or not -- a batch of 12 Australian plants that have not done much of anything so I'm not sure if they'll adapt or not.

Going to take a bunch of pictures tomorrow to have memories of these magnificent trees just in case they expire in the winter weather. Have read that sometimes Eucs that freeze come back from the roots.

I have color-coded daily PDX data 1961-to date and at a glance Dec66/Jan67 was easily the most frost-free period.

1966, autumn into winter did not freeze until 25Dec66 at 32°
no more freezes until 31Jan67, but then there were many freezes through mid-april 1967.

No autumn/winter freezes in 1999 until 24Dec99 at 30°, the start of a cold week.

thanks for the jinx! This is why we never utter the words "I am going on my break" at work. We get slaughtered! LOL