I am not sure it has been any colder this year (I have not needed my cold weather cycling gear on my morning commutes yet), and I would agree that the weather has been unusual. It feels like it has been the warmest and driest December I can remember.

Richard

yep, Palm Springs has certainly been warmer and drier overall than normal, though we had frost on the 8th and 9th, but it's wonderfully warm now, isn't it?

Only about 8 weeks left before we can pack our frost cloth
away.....good luck to us - Florida is having some kind of cold spell now I think....

mangoMumford

I am enjoying this warm dry winter, I think the worst of the cold is behind us.

To be fair it is normally a lot warmer than it's been the last 2 decembers, this year it's been warmer than normal in december though.

Sorry guys but it was cold as hell the first three weeks of Dec. much colder than last year. It's only been 10 days since the temp climb to the 70's and 80's.

JF

The SF bay area has pushed record temps..and dry. I know our records are modest compared to warmer areas..but they go back to 1849. Tomorrow another very mild day-mid 60's to 70. I have to water the mango tree..usually Dec-Jan is no need.
I took a walk around the neighborhood...and Avocado's are budding. Very early.

JZ-

Looking at my weather future crystal ball, central California looks to average way above normal for the Jan11-18th period... Maybe that warmth will expand southward...maybe it won't...

http://www.weatheroffice.gc.ca/ensemble/naefs/semaine2_combinee_e.html

I really like this map...watch the dates...my area of the country has been blazing above normal for weeks now. It was 61F in South Dakota today and could be mid 60Fs later this week.

Hey JF,

I emailed you a few questioms or basically asking you advice in you grow your tropicals.
I am especially interested in your mango success here in socal.
I am also interested in your advice for lychees and chico sapote too

It hit low 90s in Mission Viejo, Mangoes, Citrus, and other sub tropical trees are loving it right now. Talk about weird weather!

kobe24

I can't give you advice about Lychee because I just bought my sweetheart 2 months ago, ask Simon he is the California expert. Sapodilla are easy to grow but don't expect fruit for 3 years on a grafted variety. According to my friend Minh, who grows 6 variety and maybe 30 trees in Santa Ana, they prefer full sun and fertilize them with Grow More 15-30-15 every month. Mangos are also easy make sure they have good drainage, if your soil is sandy even better, and add a couple of inches of mulch in the summer. Water them regularly in the summer and feed them 8-3-9 fertilizer every six weeks in the growing seasing. The posters from Florida are the real expert about mangos ask Jeff, Harry, Zand, Swrancher, MangoDog (Palm Springs), Rob etc. there are quite a few poster who have been doing this a lot longer them me.

JF

Its indeed warmer than normal that I have noticed, it was very cold early December than what I am used to as well. By no means winter is over, we may get extreme cold winter like warm is getting warmer lately.

On another note, my tomatoes from last season has sprung up with blooms, they think its spring already! LOL

The first three weeks of December were really cold but it has definitely warmed up. Many of the trees around my area are starting to bloom and I have crazy bad allergies from all the pollen coming off the trees. There is supposed to be a cool down starting tomorrow. I hope we don't get any more frost.

Warm weather followed by frost could mean bad news for newly emerging growth.