Phoenix area bracing for record cold

[azmouse]

Quote:The coldest spell in nearly a quarter-century could ruin home landscapes and drive more people than usual into homeless shelters over the next several nights.

Below-freezing temperatures are expected to begin Friday night and run through Monday night, the National Weather Service said. In some locations, low temperatures could drop below 28 degrees, the level defined as a “hard freeze.”

Four nights in a row of subfreezing temperatures would match a December 1988 cold snap. More than one night of temperatures of 28 or below also would set a mark that has not been seen since 1981.

The longest Phoenix has ever seen temperatures below freezing was 14 days in January 1912 and December 1916. The longest spell of 28 or below was six days in January 1971.

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2...-cold.html

I live in the Phoenix area and I'm not looking forward to this weather. I know what seems very cold to us is probably a warm winter day where you are but to us desert dwellers cold weather with below freezing temps will destroy many of our heat adapted plants and harm the homeless.
I also thought it might be interesting to others after reading this related story: http://democratsforprogress.com/forum/sh...tid=21042.

Related? Record heat in Australia and record cold in AZ? Maybe it's a stretch but maybe not. I'm thinking of this as something similar to a roller coaster. What goes up in one area must come down in another. But both weather conditions are extremes and I think are related to climate change. We may be seeing more and more of this as climate speeds up and extremes of heat and cold happen all over the globe.

[There Is No Spoon]

OMG! Temperatures below freezing?

It's gonna be 50 for a high this weekend.

[azmouse]

(01-10-2013 03:47 PM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  OMG! Temperatures below freezing?

It's gonna be 50 for a high this weekend.

I knew you'd say that.
That's why I'll be sending you every piece of citrus fruit that freezes.

[There Is No Spoon]

(01-10-2013 03:56 PM)azmouse Wrote:  

(01-10-2013 03:47 PM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  OMG! Temperatures below freezing?

It's gonna be 50 for a high this weekend.

I knew you'd say that.
That's why I'll be sending you every piece of citrus fruit that freezes.

Now now.

[azmouse]

(01-10-2013 04:12 PM)There Is No Spoon Wrote:  Now now.

Ok, ok... I'll include a few oranges that don't freeze.

Winter in AZ is still too long for me. I'll take the heat any day. Really. Truly.

[yowzayowzayowza]

(01-10-2013 04:28 PM)azmouse Wrote:  Winter in AZ is still too long for me. I'll take the heat any day. Really. Truly.

Yes, ice belongs in the freezer.

[72ptheriot]

Maybe the cold will calm down some of the crazy you were talking about over there. We are just getting rain after rain. I don't think it's enough to wash away Jeff Landy over here.

[suzie]

Azmouse, I remember someone who's a master urban gardener talking about "Global Climate Weirding" rather than Global Climate Warming.

I think we may be seeing that and as you note about the oranges, it's going to be a tough thing for growers of all kinds of fruits, veggies, grains all over the world. How do you know when to plant when year-to-year there are dramatic changes?

[pappy]

(01-11-2013 12:54 PM)suzie Wrote:  Azmouse, I remember someone who's a master urban gardener talking about "Global Climate Weirding" rather than Global Climate Warming.

I think we may be seeing that and as you note about the oranges, it's going to be a tough thing for growers of all kinds of fruits, veggies, grains all over the world. How do you know when to plant when year-to-year there are dramatic changes?

I can see a whole resurgence in the greenhouse industry for the growing of food crops.

When I was a kid there where numerous greenhouses in my area of Ohio that supplied the local grocers with veggies year round. Those faded away as we started bringing is food crops from the west and south and eventually from overseas.

With the climate getting more unpredictable and transportation costs increasing I can see them coming back to the rural landscapes surrounding our cities across the country.

Of course that wouldn't help with crops like oranges but you never know what other solutions may be around the corner.

[azmouse]

I picked a few bags of oranges and grapefruits today. Hopefully the remaining fruit won't be too damaged by the freeze. I'm not going to worry about the lemons. They seem to weather the cold fairly well.

This weather is definitely weird. We were still having temps in the 80s in early Dec, and Nov was one of the warmest on record. We didn't expect to get much cold weather this winter, and we definitely didn't expect cold that would be expected to hang around this long. A few winters ago we had a few days of hard freeze and it took about 2 years for many trees and shrubs to recover to their pre-freeze conditions. Looks like we might be starting all over again.