COLD ENOUGH TO SNOWBOARD IN JACKSONVILLE

Is it cold enough to ski in Jacksonville?  Well this morning it was cold enough but not long enough.  Friday morning was a cold one but a morning that was far from setting any cold record.  The record today was 22 set in 1927.  The Jacksonville airport hit 3, Craig Field 34, Glenn St. Mary 29 and Hastings 31.
Tonight will be colder and we can expect a hard freeze except south of St. Johns county and the beaches.   A hard freeze means temperatures reaching 28 degrees for two hours or more.  These are the conditions for ice riding in North Florida.

Snowboarding in Jacksonville from Mark Collins on Vimeo.

Around this time last year we had a cold snap with temps dropping into the 20s.  I was probably the first person to go go snowboarding on TV down an ice hill in Arlington.  A local resident turned on the sprinkler system early in the morning and hosed down a grass hill adjacent to the river.  The water froze and the hill was certainly slick enough to ski or snowboard.  In fact a couple of the hoses cracked and the sprinkler froze up completely before we could spray down an even larger area.  It was an interesting experiment with a fun payoff.  If you are not up for making an artificial ski run tonight, this weekend will be a good time to head  8 hours north to some of the ski spots in North Carolina.

IS IT GOOD TO WATER A LAWN BEFORE A FREEZE?

Today's rain will help protect your lawn for tomorrow's freeze.   Many areas received over an inch of rain Monday night and Tuesday.  Orange Park got 1.06", Arlington 1.07", Mandarin 1.21", and St. Augustine 1.46".  Watering a lawn 24 hours before a freeze helps protect it from the cold.  It is important for the grass to not be dry and in need of watering.  A freeze on dry lawns is more stressful for the lawn but water will help insulate the roots during a freeze.

Grass will typically turn brown after January here on the First Coast.  This is expected and over watering will not bring back the green color. The lawn is not dead. In fact watering more than once every 10 days can promote fungus.  It is important to mow in winter even though the grass is not growing quickly because this keeps weeds in check and prevents them from dispersing seeds which will sprout during the spring.

However, watering foliage before a freeze could be more damaging than doing nothing. When a sprinkler system comes on during the freeze and turns off before the freeze is over, damage can be severe. University of Florida Master Gardeners say ornamental plants can be protected during a freeze by continually sprinkling the plants with water. Sprinkling must begin when the temperatures drop to 32ºF and must continue until the temperatures rise above 32ºF. Sprinkling must be such that the water is evenly distributed and ample enough to maintain a film of liquid water on all of the foliage surfaces.  This practice is impractical and not recommended for homeowners since home irrigation systems are inadequate for such extensive water delivery. Water pressure may drop if several homeowners in the same area turn on their systems, making adequate water delivery impossible. Several hours of irrigation may be necessary and this can cause soil saturation resulting in root rot. It also wastes large quantities of water.  A better method is to cover the plants with cotton sheets.

If after all your efforts the plants suffer freeze damage don't worry about trying to water them back to life.  The tissue is probably dead and not able to use the water to come back to life.

Jacksonville's First and Only White Christmas

I have lived in Florida my whole life and have seen snow fall only once in the state.   I was just 3 years old when snow fell in St. Petersburg back in January of 1977.  I don't remember it but my parents told me I was confused by  the white snowflakes coming down.

Looking at the statistics I should of witnessed more that just one snowfall in the sunshine state. Florida rarely gets snow, but there have been several snowfalls over the years since records began.  Most events are during January and February.  Snow has been observed in more than 80 separate months since 1886.  Snow flurries which don't stick to the ground are reported almost each winter in some part of the state. Last year flurries fell during the early morning hours on January 3rd in east central Florida and flurries were reported to us as close as Flagler county. In the 1977 event, snow fell in Ft. Lauderdale and cars had to wipe off the accumulation with windshield wipers.  Reports of snow in Homestead made this the record for the most southerly point of snow in Florida.

Jacksonville has had its rare share of snow events but only once has snow been on the ground during Christmas day.  These pictures are proof.  It was in 1989 during a record cold outbreak that Jacksonville had its first December snowfall with more than three inches of snow on the ground in sections of the city.  It snowed on Christmas Eve and the snow stuck on the ground and stayed during Christmas day.  In Gainesville, ice on runways forced the airport to close.

So for First Coast residents who say it can't snow here, remember the Christmas of 1989.  And topping that, the states record snowfall in Florida was right near Jacksonville in Union countie's Lake Butler.  Four inches fell there in 1899 making it the snowiest event in Florida's history. 

This year, with highs on Christmas nearing 80 degrees, the only snow will be at the other end of a long plane ride north.

RECORD COLD & THE FIRST FREEZE OF THE SEASON

We have unprecedented cold air in Jacksonville this season.  Our first freeze this fall occurred on Tuesday morning November 18th with a low of 32 degrees.  The earliest freeze on record happened in 1954 on November 3rd.  It is rare to get so cold this early in the season.  We had the coldest temperatures ever on record in October.  The low on the 29th reached 33!  This was the coldest reading so early in the fall season.  The average date for the first freeze is December 8th here in Jacksonville.

This morning a new record was set when the low dropped to 28.  This breaks the record set in 1951 of 30 degrees.  Tonight another freeze is forecast of 30.  If we reach this, we will tie a record set in 1873.

A quick warm up of nearly 40 degrees will happen Thursday afternoon.  This is because of a warming west wind in advance of Friday's cold front.  Yes it will drop temps again into the 60s Friday through early next week.  But this time the freeze will be confined to the extreme inland locations.