Record high and low temps...results might surprise you!

[LilithFair]

I was bored and had a little free time on my hands so I decided to look up the record high and low temps for every place I have ever lived where I had gardened. My source was weather.com...I didn't go deep enough for the actula years, just the months

The results were surprising, even to me! These are RECORD temps, NOT average summer/winter temps. It just goes to show that no matter where you live, you can get that "one time" weather event that could decimate a lifetime of work in a garden and pond.

I have never lived in Miami, but included it here because I have a lot of friends who live there who like to tell me that it NEVER freezes in Miami

It would be interesting to have everyone post their records for comparison

Here are mine:

CITY                      Month/LOW                                          Month/HIGH

Abilene Texas........... Dec, Feb -7 (yes that's BELOW ZERO)..........July 110
Austin Texas............ Feb        -2 ............................................Sept 112
Corpus Christi TX...... Feb        +11...........................................Sept 109
Dallas TX................. Jan, Feb  -2............................................Aug 115
Galveston TX........... Dec        +14...........................................Sept 104
Houston TX.............Dec         +9............................................Aug 106
Rockport TX.............Dec         +12..........................................May, Jul 100

Culver City CA...........Jan         +24..........................................Sept 111

Gainesville FL............Jan          +10.........................................June 103

Miami FL..............Dec,Jan,Mar.. +32.................................May, Jul, Aug  98

Even though by the temp Culver City would seem to be the best, it wasn't (IMO)...it always seemed cold to me after the sun went down, and I couldn't grow and bloom a lot of tropicals due to low heat accumulation.
South Texas (Rockport, Corpus, Galveston) were by far the best but still not perfect.

[MikeW]

Good heavens, I thought I had moved a lot!  Looks like you have left a trail of great gardens across the country.

I'll bet that 111F in Culver City was this year - Whew, it got seriously, and unnaturally warm here.

Cheers,

Mike

[CT]

   Wichita, Kansas       Hi 113/1954  Lo -21/1982 
   Kansas City, Kansas Hi 112/1954  Lo -19/1989
   Moore, Oklahoma     Hi 109/1954  Lo -4/1989

July is the warmest month, January the coldest

[JohnInFlorida]

I too have bounced around a bit ... the highs and lows may not be for exactly where I was living but are from the closest city that posts record hi's & lows (i.e. Istanbul instead of Karamursel/Kocaeli, Turkey and Hartford instead of Rocky Hill, CT).

Place         High Record      Low Record

Providence, RI      104°F in Aug      -13°F in Jan
Great Lakes, IL      108°F in Jul      -27°F in Jan
Pensacola, FL      106°F in Jul      5°F in Jan
Adak, AK         75°F in Aug      3°F in Feb
KamiSeya, Japan      106°F in Aug      25°F in Jan
Wahiawa, HI      95°F in Sep      52°F in Jan
Karamursel, Turkey   100°F in Jul      16°F in Jan
Rocky Hill, CT      102°F in Jul      -26°F in Jan
Indianapolis, IN      104°F in Jul      -27°F in Jan
Baltimore, MD      105°F in Aug      -7°F in Jan
North Port, FL      99°F in Jun      18°F in Dec
Arcadia, FL      100°F in May      21°F in Dec
Middleburg, FL      103°F in Jun      7°F in Jan

When one remembers and writes down ALL of the places, it makes for some interesting memories ... Thanks for the nudge, Lilith 

Keep Smilin'
John 

[LilithFair]

I think it really is fun to remember what we did in the past as far as where we lived.
In Abilene, the only thing I ever remember growing was watermelons. We had a big watermelon one 4th of July when I was about 5, and my mom saved the seeds and let me plant them beside the driveway. I lived with my grandparents in Dallas oart time and with my grandma in Houston part time. My Dallas grandparents had nandina and bird pepper bushes, they used to pick the peppers (which are the tiny chile pequins, among the hottest of chiles) and make pepper vinegar out of them. My grandma in Houston had a Kumquat tree, a fig tree, and lots of other neato stuff we used to take care of together.

In Rockport, my parents let me plant some agaves, bananas, bottlebrush, and bean plants when I was 10. Then I got 2 horses, and everything I planted in the back yard, they ate.

In Austin, I was in college. The first year, I lived in the dorms. Had no plants. Then I got an apartment with some other girls and I had some windowboxes with flowers in the spring. Then I moved to Galveston, and I had lots of stuff. Bananas, gingers, philodendrons, etc. My dad moved to Corpus at that time and I spent every summer there, and gardened at his place.

Then we moved to California and I had my first water gardens. I bought water lilies and a ton of other stuff from Lilypons. When we moved to Florida I just exploded with water plants, tropicals, palms, anything and everything!

[tammie]

Here's mine:
Santa Ana CA high:110 1995, low:22 1950
Kailua HI high:94 1997, low: 46 1957
Waimanalo HI high:95 1972, low:49 1977
Tammie

[purplepshn2004]

Lilath,

This is pretty interesting, here's mine:

Bay Minette, AL (where I will be living in one week) High 105F 1963  Low 2F 1985
Yankton, SD (where I currently live) High 110F 1988  Low -31F 1989
Estherville, IA (where I was born)  High 104F 1955  Low -30F 1970

[LilithFair]

So far if I had to choose I'd go move in with Tammie!

[Johns]

Champaign,Il                     High: 109   Jul,  Low:  -25 Jan
Charlotte, NC                    High: 104   Sep, Low:  -5 Jan
Chicago,Il                         High: 104   Jun,  Low: -24 Jan
Columbus,Ga                     High: 108   Jul,  Low::-6 Jan
Decatur Illinois                  High:  113  Jul,  Low:  -25 Feb
Eatontown,NJ                   High: 106   Jul,  Low: -12 Feb
Gary, In                           High: 105  Jun, Low: -29 Dec
Huntsville, Alabama            High: 111  Jul,  Low: -17 Feb
Lawton, Oklahoma             High: 114  Jun,  Low:   -8 Dec
Normal, Il                         High: 103  Jun,  Low: -23 Jan
Orogrande, New Mexico      High: 110  Jun,  Low: -14 Jan
Peoria, Il                          High: 113  Jul,   Low: 27 Jan

Memories of the years spent in the cold north:  Worrying about whether the car would start in the morning, consequently getting up in the middle of the night to start and warm up the engine so as to increase the chances of it's starting in the morning.  Keeping cans of ether handy to spray into the carbeurator.  Placing a "trouble light" on the engine to keep some wormth in the compartment overnight.  Dipstick heaters.  Watching  three of my neighbors in succession burning out their starting motors after being hooked up to a garage truck starting system when the internal friction of their engines was higher than the horse power their engines could produce, even while constantly firing as long as the starter was running. Then slipping and sliding on ice-packed streets, dodging the frozen hulks of vehicles that had turned ordinary streets into obsticle courses.  Sitting at stop lights, watching idiots sliding sideways in your rear view mirror, steeling yourself for the force of the collision in the event they are unable to avoid hitting you from the rear.

Having grown up in the south, and having heard for years native northerners complain about southerners not being able to drive in winter conditions, 10+ years in the north convinced me that northerners are no better adept at winter driving than southerners.  Every snowstorm  left rural highways and interstates and city streets strewn with abandoned vehicles.  I vivedly remember the lady who set her tries on fire, spinning them relentlessly trying to drive up a small incline in Decatur, Il.

Once in a great while, Charlotte gets a little snow.  More rarely we get an ice storm. I love having four seasons, (winter kills a lot of garden bugs), but the one thing I never miss about my life in the north is the winter.  BRRRRR!

[LilithFair]

YOu see, that's what's so surprising about this exercise...I would never, in my WILDEST dreams, have believed that ANY portion of Alabama or Georgia would get below zero. Especially THAT FAR below zero...-17! North Carolina I might expect that, but GEORGIA?

[karen J]

John Johns- thanks for the reminder of things to come. 
Seems like it's always the first snow that brings out the idiots.

I remember we had a massive snow storm on LI when I was a kid. The power was out, and school was closed for days. My Dad took me and a friend to see Star Wars, and they kept losing power. We sat and sat- took forever to see that movie! Worth it, though.

[livetogarden]

My post would be pretty short and boring.......born and raised and still living in Omaha. I will turn 55 this next Sun. and have only lived in 3 different homes, all in Omaha.
Compared to some of your replies this makes me look pretty dull. 
Cath