Weather Alert for California

The weather folks are predicting colder than usual temps starting Saturday through next week. You may want to cover your plants or bring inside those that you can.

http://weather.yahoo.com/storm/USCA0987.html


Rare 50 year Arctic Blast Sets Sights On Southern California.
http://www.venturacountystar.com/news/2008/dec/08/rare-50-year-arctic-blast-sets-sights-on/

Thanks.....I was just thinking that I need to clean out the greenhouse, move some things in and move other plants around. Of course, I thought this after dark last night when the forecast mentioned temps in the 40's...lol...one of our weathermen down here mentioned maybe a month or so ago that if the long range projections are true, we'd be having a colder than ususal winter....sigh...

We were talking about microclimates on another thread and this morning our outdoor thermometer was reading 34 degrees. I think I will replace the battery today and think about moving it to a different location! It's not nice to start the day looking at that. :-(

Thanks for the link, begoniacrazii - I'm going to send it to my stepson in England, who is due to arrive Monday for his vacation! LOL

Yep,, he may want to bring warm clothing! I've already been to the ag supply this a.m. for more frost fabric. I can see very clearly what I'll be doing for the next 4-5 days. Many things to be moved. We don't heat our house, we've always used wood heat and I didn't bother with the woodstove last night.....I can say that I slept in sweatpants and wasn't hot.

Nah, he said he's packing shorts. Those Brits are hardy folk.

I was a little chilly last night, but appreciated the furnace this morning. :-) We have a digital thermostat, so we can set it precisely for when we need it. The house is sealed pretty good. I think we'll set it even lower this year, just to be more economic with propane.

Will be moving some plants today, too. The plumeria have been in the g/h for a couple of weeks.

wcgypsy, I understand that woodstovers hereabouts are bewailing the air pollution watches/warnings and the resultant fireplace use restrictions. It seems that they're predicting that those of you using wood stoves hereabouts may only be able to use your heat fewer than 30 days this winter. Brrrrrrrrrr ! ! ! !

Our temps in the Central Valley today were 58/40 & Saturday are expected to be 47/34. Brrrrrrr, not sure how I'd manage evening-time without heat! Brrrr rrrrrr rrrr!!

That said . . . I'm happy to be living in California in the wintertime, rather than, um, Canada?! Major-brrrrrrrrrr! ! ! !

Linda

Photo: Not a Poodle!

Yes, I think my Dad mentioned that you can't use woodstoves up there now. You have certain days you can or cannot use them? He lives in Ceres. I can imagine...the air sits in the valley there and has gotten pretty bad now. It's probably about time to replace the catalytic converter in our woodstove now that you mention it........

Are there restrictions on pellet stoves as well?

No idea.....

Up here pellet stoves are included in the ban, but I'm not sure if the rules are the same all over the state or if different areas might have slightly different versions. http://www.sparetheair.org/

Hmmm...just curious, as my family uses them.

So are people using Cloud Cover or row covers for their tender plants?

I'm not--my really tender stuff is in the greenhouse and everything else in my garden is on its own. I don't have time to cover stuff all the time so if it can't handle a little bit of cold then it doesn't earn the right to stay in my garden! LOL

I'm using Christmas lights with heavy duty row covers. http://www.gemplers.com/product/101225/N-Sulate-12-ft-x-250-ft-Cold-Frost-Protection-Fabric
I prefer this fabric to the variety available at big box stores as it's more than twice as thick and provided better protection during our low 17-20º temps last year.

Every thing else went into the greenhouses.

Is that how low it got last year begonia crazii? It's only supposed to get down to 31 degrees here this frost phase as far as accuweather says and that's on the 25th.

Thanks for the link to the row covers. Last year we couldn't find it here so we bought cheap sheets at target to cover the plants with.

yes! gets pretty cold here in Napa Valley. And I seem to be in a cold pocket that is generally 5-8º colder than any of the weather forecast sites predict for my town. So far our low was 27 (about 5 days ago) otherwise we've been in the mid 30's - very unusual for December!

Right now I'm keeping watch on http://www.weather.gov/ so far, this site is the most accurate for my mini-microclimate and you can enter your street address, which seems to show the temps that match my thermometers.

Then there's www.accuweather.com which I like because I can get the mobile version on my iPhone.
and Yahoo weather generally shows a pretty accurate forecast for my area.


Oddly enough, the prediction for today was very cold with rain. It's about 45º and the sun is out and there are very few clouds!

Also, on that row cover cloth, it's very reusable so i haven't even used 2/3 of roll yet. Just reusing what I cut last year.

I still have a few citrus and brugs to cover but most everything else is toasty warm in my greenhouse.

Begoniacrazii,

Central Valley, Fresno, 2:30 p.m., Zone 9a-9b, sunny, blue skies absent clouds, 55 degrees, occasional wind to blow the collection of Fruitless Mulberry leaves off my roof before it rains and they plant themselves underneath my roof tiles, thankfully!

Gorgeous day, thus far! Hmmm, where's the storm you folks were supposed to send our way?

Linda

It's too cold for me! I'm going to cover my POB whether I need to or not. With the leaves not dropping as quickly as they should have here, it didn't get enough sun.
I'm really glad they haven't restricted our use of our wood stove. I would freeze without it. It does a really good job of heating up the main portion of the house. My boys like it cold, and DH got me an electric fireplace for our room. It helps a lot. DH said that They were talking about putting restrictions on us here too. I don't understand why, since our air is in constant movement. Very seldom still except in the early mornings.
Need to go cover a few things before it gets too dark and I can't move at all.
Check in tomorrow, and see how everyone fared the night!
WIB,
SW

SW, I wonder if there are medical waivers for the restrictions? I can't imagine the elderly and people with certain conditions being denied heat. ???

I'll certainly argue the point before the city counsel. The local fire dept. has a certain latitude on the subject. We'll keep you posted.
I ran (Ok I creaked on) out and covered up some on my frost sensitive plants. Checked the hi and low temps for the green house, after my last post. It only got up to 85 for the high today, and down to 46 inside there last night. I brought in the last two orchids, and my Christmas cactus are in the utility room.
Hope it doesn't get too cold for the rest.
We'll know tomorrow.
WIB!
SW

By 7pm last night the lid to the hot tub was iced over. It's 25º now even with the heavy cloud cover. Brrrrrr.

Greenhouses are at 45º right now.

Looks like I have nothing to complain about http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/932180/
Now *that's* cold! ;º)

Temps here only got down to 29 and they've been that low a few nights already this year, so nothing unusual here.

Looking out my brug trees still have their green leaves, usually those are the first to go in a frost. I have so many big buds on my brugs still. I have never had them so late.

I spent yesterday moving all my standard bougainvilleas (still with flowers) in pots onto my porch and all succulents into my hoophouse. I still have a lot to move though we are supposedly not going below 38 thru next Thursday. Around 5 last night I was sure wondering why I thought it was such a great idea all year to buy so many wuss plants. I am getting to old for all this every year.

I will say my house was very cold last night. My husband kept saying the heat was on but I do not think so. LOL I wore a heavy jacket all night long.

The sun is already out this morning and the sky is blue. No rain in sight. It is 40 degrees. Maybe I will get a full day of yard work done.

Accuweather is saying that we aren't going below 32 here so I'm hopeful. I sprayed my citrus and climbing hydrangeas and other tender vines with cloud cover. I may put floating row covers on my echevarias if it gets really cold and bring the cane begonias into the house. That's about it. I'll hate it if I lose my sea lavender. I have a lot of it because it's such a spectacular -year round bloomer and replacing it after that other frosty year we had was a big and expensive pain. Even so I'll replace it if I lose it. It's too good to give up.

I don't think you need to worry about your climbing hydrangea unless it's a different one than the two I know of...Hydrangea anomala subsp petiolaris and Schizophragma hydrangeoides are both hardy to about zone 4 so they'll think 32 is positively toasty!

Wow, what a rain! Finally hit us about 4:00 am. Now I'm worried about it continuing to rain and it flooding into the green house! I've got an inch of water in some places next to the concrete around the pool. And how perverse is this. I am currently filling the pool back up to the right level. I should have done it yesterday. : (
But yesterday had a raging fever, still had to get Santa's Sleigh out for his visit. So everything went by the wayside. It didn't help I pulled a muscle rescuing a kitten Sat. morn. I got to quit doing that stuff.
My biggest worry right now is getting my firewood dry. No one thought to cover it yesterday after I passed out from the pain. I brought a bunch in just now, since I was wet anyway, and hope it dries out before I need to use it. : |
The good news is, that it is currently 55 degrees in the green house and that the high in the green house yesterday was 88, and the low was 42. : )
Does anyone know where I can get an indestructible (or nearly so) rain gauge? Not the cheap ones. I do know that an empty dog food can (Large size) my kids left on the porch is full of rain water. I'd like to keep an accurate record.
Keep dry, and keep warm!
WIB, Squish, Squish, Squish!
SW

Thanks, ecrane. It's hydrangea seemanii or seamanii. It's an evergreen native of Mexico and reports of it's hardiness ranges zone 9 or zone 8. THe leaves look like camellia leaves. They are very slow growing and I'm trying to use them to cover a fence. They are about 5 years old now and are about 3 feet high and I don't want to lose them. They made it through the last horrible frosty year we had though so they should be OK in this shorter.

Well, the skies have opened here and I don't believe the rain is ever going to stop. So many things that I didn't get under plastic and all....sigh...I'm probably just creating havens for the rabbits for the winter, with food growing in pots no less. I have hundreds of pots on tables and out in the open, so this year instead of having to cover/uncover everything against frost, I decided to put plastic on the ground under my tables and plastic covering the tops and sides to make many mini-greenhouses.....halfway through I realized that some of the plants might be tasty to the rabbits when they wouldn't even have to venture out into the weather to forage...lol...oh well, we'll see what happens. Hopefully, it will ease up tomorrow before pouring again on Wednesday, so that I can get more things protected outside. The rain makes today a good day to clean out the pantry, however, that's wearing a bit thin. I think a cup of coffee and my book sound better........by the window and watch the rain.

Doss, is your climbing hydrangea drought hardy too? It's a beautiful plant. What is the cloud cover, you referred to using on your citrus and your climbing hydrangea's? Rats! I forgot about my Lea Lavender. One of my favorites for the same reasons you like them doss. That and the butterflies! : )
My EB#1 is helping me to get everything covered, he is expecting snow tonight. Our elevation is about 1600 feet above sea level. I'll take photos if it does. He estimates we've gotten about four inches of rain so far with this storm.
I just turned off the water going into the pool, and checked the water level and it seems to be soaking in now. Still deep in a couple of places, but EB#1 is going to help me to divert the H20 away from the greenhouse. What a blessing to have his help.
WIB,
SW

I'm feeding a gopher that way. It's always something! Cleaning out the pantry can wait! I second the hot drink and a good book idea. Now, if only I can get my feet warm!
WIB!
SW

The climbing hydrangeas are the first things to wilt in the garden so they surely aren't good for somewhere they can't get regular water. Cloud Cover is a spray you put on your plants. It's supposed to help them from both the heat and the cold. I haven't used it in the summer for the hydrangeas but I should try it there. You should be able to get it at your local garden center.

Even though I live in the desert, kind of. I do have access to lots of drip irrigation. Tee Hee! : )
I'll look into getting some Could Cover. Works for both heat and cold? Wow! Till I can make it to the nursery, I am thinking of recycling some boxes my son got in today. Should work for the night anyway.
Thanks doss!
WIB!
SW

boxes sound perfect. That's a much better solution than sheets I think.

I'm used to improvising. The sheets work ok for smaller plants. Or very tall potted plants. You do have to remove them during the day. Boxes are great if you can gently stuff the branches inside and you have the right size box, but you still have to take them off during the day. On one I used a combination of styrofoam panels covered by a blanket. The boxes are just temporary. One of my Sea Lavender (not Lea Lavender) was so happy my box is holding down plastic and covering part of the plant too. I'm fixing to steal my husbands' clear plastic that he uses to wrap flocked Christmas Trees in, and some stakes and field wire to make more permanent enclosures for my babies.
The good thing about living on a farm is that you can always find stuff to recycle in new ways. The bad news is that it looks like junk. LOL!
WIB,
Sw

Yes, my sea lavender was the thing that hurt most in the last big freeze. I use a lot of it. Everything else came back except a few mother ferns.

Living on a farm has it's benefits!

Well, not plant related, but we had a full day. Drove up to L.A. to p/u DSS and his girlfriend, who arrived from England. It was raining so heavily we could not see even with wipers at full. Very hard to see lane lines. SW, I would not be surprised at your 4 inches, the way it was coming down.

Finally it slacked off, but just before we got to the airport there was an accident on the 405. Apparently an SUV spun and a man in a car hit it broadside, totalling his car. As we came up on the scene, he was getting his two little girls out of the car, but they had nowhere to go. The were in the next to fast lane (we were in the fast lane), the car was crosswise with the door hanging open, but people were still coming up from behind and passing him! We stopped and scooped them into our car and waited for the police, ambulance, and fire dept. to arrive. The youngest girl was so frightened and both of them had soreness from the seatbelts (thank goodness they worked!). I think dad was probably in worse shape than the girls - all were in shock and he was obviously worried about the girls. Whew!

Anyway, we're home safe and tomorrow will tell what the yard looks like. We had a power failure here while we were gone and when we left there was a lot of puddling going on. Keep warm and dry, everyone!

k

That family's lucky you came along!!!!

Thanks, imapgieon. The littlest girl had taken her shoes off in the car and they were standing there in that cold wet weather with cars whipping past - we didn't have to think about it. There was one other lady who stopped, called 911 and gave her number to the man in the car - she had been just behind them. It really bothers me that traffic just kept speeding past. The police told DH it was better to stop on the hard shoulder (we knew that), but how can you get across probably five lanes of freeway w/o causing another accident when people won't slow down? One guy actually screeched tires going past us.

Please, everyone, when traffic slows down suddenly there is usually a reason - look around carefully.

Too bad about the accident. They were lucky to have you around to help.

I heard that it was snowing in Portola Valley this morning. I"ll bet that some of you had snow.