Winter Wonderland in Florida

[sibi]

I though you'd like to see what the winter blast did to us here at Fort Walton Beach, Florida.

I was driving down a street in my neighborhood and saw this today:



A sprinkler pipe burst during the wee hours on Tuesday morning when temps got to 17 degrees! I could just imagine the water gushing out and freezing in midair. It left a beautiful scene of icicles all over the front of this house.

When I stopped to take this picture, many on the road asked me if it was real since there are still many homes decorated for the holidays. I answered, "Yes, it's real...I still can't believe I live in Florida! You only get to see something like this at Disneyland."

 

[TortieLuver]

Wow that's a really neat picture

 

[ascott]

Awesome....I use to work at a natural wildlife area here in the High Desert...one of our staff accidentally left a large sprinkler on all night and when we came in first thing am we found similar scene...cool for sure...always wished we had planned it and would have set up time lapse cameras to see exactly at what time and point the sprinkler water began to freeze...

 

[AnnV]

Wow. Poor tropical plants. Will they all be destroyed?
This must be northern FL?
My family lives kind of south central Gulf coast, and it got into the upper 30's.
We bought a house (rented til we move) near there and just had a bunch of citrus planted. I hope they are all okay?! Better call and check. D:

 

[sibi]

Actually, I believe the frozen water may have saved the plants because once it reaches 32 degrees and it freezes, it won't feel the 17 degree temps that followed. It kinda insulates it. Orange growers sometimes will purposely freeze their crops to keep them from being ruined.

Yes, in the panhandle of Florida, we get the jet streams from the northwest before turning up to the northeast. That means, if there's a cold front from the northwest, we usually get hit with it first before making its way up the east coast,

 

[Barista5261]

Yikes!

My fiancée and his family are up there in Jackson County. He was saying overnight tues/wed it got down to 13 degrees [FLUSHED FACE]


Also, when it dips below freezing, doesn't that make the orange juice sweeter? Or did I just make that up?

 

[sibi]

Lol I think you made that up. The sweetness of oranges has more to do with ripeness, not temps falling below freezing. In fact, temps slow freezing would destroy crops, not make them sweeter.

Yikes!

My fiancée and his family are up there in Jackson County. He was saying overnight tues/wed it got down to 13 degrees [FLUSHED FACE]


Also, when it dips below freezing, doesn't that make the orange juice sweeter? Or did I just make that up?

 

[Yvonne G]

I think with oranges, once the temp hit freezing, the sugar content in the orange doesn't get any better. So you hope that they're sweet enough before it ever freezes. Trouble with freezing and oranges is they get pithy if they're allowed to freeze. Still edible, but not very juicy and very dry.

 

[WilliamB]

Actually. This cold streak can be great for the wildlife if Florida. It might wipe out large parts of the populations of several invasive tropical species giving the native species a chance to recouperate.

 

[bouaboua]

Actually. This cold streak can be great for the wildlife if Florida. It might wipe out large parts of the populations of several invasive tropical species giving the native species a chance to recouperate.

Yes. That is good.