Dan, here is the page I was referring to: hourly temperatures

I imagine that "Feels like" is the same thing as "wind chill". I am moving plants because I am supposed to get to 29º.... I have some big ones . D____ these plants get bigger and bigger. I have to choose who to kill. I think I am going to top of my E. oxypetalum. It is looking a bit beat up.

Yeah, I imagine 'feels like' is the same as 'wind chill', but wind chill refers to how humans feel it. Plants don't have those same sense organs.

So is it going to get to a freezing temperature to affect plants or not?

Like you Mara, I'll probably cut things back and take them in, but I'd still like to know who is confused -- me, or how Wunderground Weather does its weather reports.

They are saying 31º, 28º, 30º up here. Not a feels like it temperature. These first cold fronts can be way weird. We are so high up that the cold seeps down hill and the hills are still radiating heat so we are often MUCH warmer than the surrounding areas. It is hard to gage. Tomatoes are worthless if they freeze. I moved my aloes and succulents to a winter "position". down on my southern facing stone covered patio. Things are weird this winter also because what I use as a place to store my plants is being finished out by a work crew to make my house so I am using my shop as a greenhouse. I can use the big room to roll in the two large plants. I have maybe 70 plants. I am looking at them and going ," Now who dies, any volunteers"..

I've been watching the NWS projections get lower and lower as the day gets closer. They're projecting 29 now (for my side of town).

Thanks for the Weather Underground tip, I had never checked them out. But when I bookmarked the website, I recognized the icon. MySA.com uses them (and the same WU icon) for their radar map of approaching storms. (which I monitor to know exactly when to close the windows & batten down the hatches)

Wish I had a better mechanism for dragging/rolling heavy pots in & out of the garage.

Dan, give me a dolly and I can move almost anything at ground level. Now for lifting big pots off of plant stands I have to call Bob -- which is exactly what's going to happen come tomorrow. I was hoping for a few days of sunshine so they would dry out and be lighter.

The cannas aren't even slightly singed. They are the first to go so no matter what it 'felt like' the temperature didn't drop to freezing, which is a good thing because I took a chance and wouldn't let Bob move the biggest bougie and the macho fern that are in three and five gallon pots of soaking wet soil.

I could have left everything outside, because with the ground still warm and leaves on the trees even if there was an hour or two of freezing temps that's not enough to do much damage.

For those who did get freezes I hope the plants you care about are okay ... :-)

We got to just freezing . Probably not by the tree on the ground , but definitely out by the garden so I am glad that I did my harvest of tomatoes and nasturtium greens. Tonight should be colder.. I am glad that I got all my aloes and tender succulents in their winter position where they can roll in and out easily. The kitchen is looking pretty verdant. It seems like it was more work this year than before to fill up all the nooks and crannies in the kitchen . Move all the plants down stairs to the shop porch and into the shop and to get the freeze cloths out and on the garden.

Cannas and rest are largely untouched in our heat island on the north side of Dallas, too. Local temps dropped less and later than forecast and only made it to 29 F around 6:00 am - so just 2 to 3 hours in mildly freezing temps. Ground will give up a lot of heat today with a high of only 41 F, so tonight should be the first "killing" frost if we really make it into the mid-20s.

Are these normal temps for you folks down there for this time of the year?

I find it odd it is already December up here after an above normal summer not below normal. I also find it odd that California heats up so much and we freeze to death. Too many extremes.

Mike

No, much of the state is colder earlier than usual this year. Average hi/lo temps in north central Texas typically range in the 40s to 60s through most of November with first freeze closer to the end of the month. It has been an odd year weather wise.

Average first freeze is December 1st for us just west of Austin so this is unusual . It has been awhile. I do remember a very hard freeze in 2010 but that was on November 24th , I think but ut went down into the low 20's which was very unusual. It was not a flirting with cold freeze like this one. That was a BAD winter, so this early freeze has my attention.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-difference-between-temperature-and-feels-like-temperature

When it comes to concern about plants freezing, what counts is mostly temperature. But "feels like" has something to do with it, though in a very non-quantitative way. "Feels like" takes into account wind. It always feels colder if there is more wind, and that's because the moisture on your skin evaporates more, and that carries away heat. If you come out of a swim, and your skin is wet, wind makes you feel cold, because your skin IS colder than the air temperature. So just bear in mind that your plants can freeze if the temperature is 33 or 34F, if it is windy, and to extent the foliage is moist. If the dew point is below freezing, wind can easily freeze things for which the actual temperature is above freezing.

Dan thank you for doing the research and giving your good explanation.

I finally thought to ask 'she who knows everything' Ms. Google and got what seems to me somewhat conflicting answers:

The wind will reduce the time it takes an object to cool but it cannot cool the object below the air temperature.

On the other hand came this which is more like Dan's answer:

If air temperatures are above but near freezing, it's possible a wet surface could chill below 32 degrees.

I'm thinking many factors affect the outcome, so Wunderground Weather attempts to cover all the bases; thus the (to me) confusing chart.

Anyway at 29 degrees last night it definitely went below freezing and the cannas are drooping.

Now to resist the temptation to cut everything back, but to simply swirl dead foliage around the roots neatly and leave it to protect the bugs and butterflies that need a place to sleep.

What will most likely follow our first freeze is several weeks of 'Indian summer' to enjoy ... :-)

Most definitely wind can cool an object below air temperature IF the air is dry and the object is wet. If the object is dry, that's exactly right - it can't. The dew point is measured by blowing air across water and seeing how cold the water gets. You surely can have dew points below freezing and, in fact, we all did last night, and at least I will tonight too. In fact, right now, in the late afternoon, my dew point is below freezing. The air is dry. Again, if you're wet, and standing in the dry wind, your skin doesn't just feel cold, it IS cold.

If the humidity is 100%, such that the dew point is equal to the air temperature, the wind can't cool wet objects lower than the air temperature, because it can't drive evaporation.

Foliage always has some residual surface moisture, so frost danger for that foliage can be when the temperature is slightly above freezing if the air is dry and it is windy.