Below freezing in Florida?

Vince_nj1

Vince_nj1

Active Member
TECHNICAL Contributor
Aug 25, 2008
1,819
North Barnegat Bay
Boat Info
2006 320 V-Drives 6.2s, Bow Thruster, Generator, Raymarine C80, Radar, Fish Finder
Engines
6.2 Horizons 320HP
I see that this cold front has reached all the way down to Florida and may be with us for a few days. I hope you guys down South have taken the necessary precautions to protect your boat.
 
17 degrees in Jackson, MS this morning. Supposed to be down to 10 degrees by the weekend. There is a chance of precipitation on Thursday, and the fear is an ice storm, which will result is loss of power from all of the downed lines. This part of the country has no equipment or means to remove snow/ice.....no trucks, plows, or salt. You just have to wait for the thaw, which is usually only a day or two....in this case it could be longer.

Don
 
It's pretty nasty in Eastern NC - at 9am it's 28* - absolutely crazy for our area. We usually get a low in the 20's but never this sustained low. Hope the bilge and cabin heaters continue to fight the good fight!! The upside is at least it has stopped raining - but still can't go boating! sigh...come on spring!
 
Delayed bottom paint to avoid freezing temps.
Turned off outside refrig/freeze (I think).
Left heat on inside.
Left water heater on.
Left in water to raise hull temp up.

Ran pool pump over night.
Trickled water through my RO/DI (aquarium stuff) filter.

Turned my blanket up to 4.
Turned my wife's blanket off - it worked!
 
Vince_nj1 said:
I see that this cold front has reached all the way down to Florida and may be with us for a few days. I hope you guys down South have taken the necessary precautions to protect your boat.
Click to expand...

Like what should we do? It' only going to be 58 here today. Screw the boat, I'm worried about keeping myself warm. LOL. :wow:

I am thinking about covering the flowers and the tomatoes. Does that count?
 
I just looked at the forecast for the weekend here, highs in the mid 20s with wind chills as low as zero. That's "highs" in .....

Flowers and tomatoes.... I couldn't jackhammer through the soil right now :)
 
No problems here, maybe northern Florida. Supposed to be in the 20's Sunday morning- and they're talking about the possibility of measureable snow.

Temps at freezing, or just below for a few hours is no problem. My boat's in the water- so with the water temps still in the upper 50's the bilge should be toasty warm...

I'll bet we're going to see some serious fish kills, though. This is the longest stretch of abnormally cold weather I've seen in my twenty-five years here.
 
that's why they built those hamster tubes to run from building to building in out there right!? :)
 
Temp. here is 40 this morning or about 20 degrees below normal.
My wife and I had a 5 day weekend planned and were supposed to leave this morning for Captiva Island then 2 days in Naples then Useppa Island then home.
Don't cancel too many trips but this is ridiculous.
 
IT'S COLD:wow:....I have lived here 33 years and I don't remember a cold spell that lasted this long. Even in '77 when it snowed as far south as Miami and also in Freeport, Bahamas, it warmed up into the 70s in a day or 2. The mercury has not gone above 59 here since Saturday!!! We are about 15~20 deg. below normal.

The biggest and most significant milestone with this cold spell is that the ocean temperature has fallen below 70 deg. for the 1st time in my memory!!! It was 68 deg yesterday.

It was 31 this AM at 6:00 at my backyard weather station with patchy frost. We are forcast to get a short 24 hour break from this cold Friday but another strong cold front is on it's way south fore the weekend.

This cold front has moved all the way down the state...Key West is not forecast to break out of the 50's until tomorrow!!! Havana, Cuba has been in the 60s for a high over the last several days as has Freeport and Nassau in the Bahamas...very unusual.

On the plus side...it looks like the continuation of night time temps in the 30s might kill off most of the Iguanas in Boca Raton and Deerfield Beach. Those are some nasty critters. They crawl up on boats and leave their mess all over the place....not good.
 
Carefull down there, be prepared with engine warmers, Marine cabin heaters and such. Here is a clip from a BoatUS article.

"Of all 50 states, which would you guess had the most freeze-related claims? New York? Maine? Michigan? Guess again. An examination of the BoatUS Marine Insurance claim files found that balmy California had more winterizing claims than any other state, including any of the “deep freeze” states. While winters may be much colder in the deep-freeze states, the bitter temperatures are a fact of life and preparations for winter are taken very seriously. But in the more temperate states, like California, Florida, Texas, Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia, winter tends to be relatively comfortable in most areas with only an occasional cold spell. And if the forecasts aren’t taken seriously, they can do a lot of damage."
 
No trying to get off topic here, but all of this cold sure makes me do this; Ah global warming you say? :huh:
 
Pseudomind said:
No trying to get off topic here, but all of this cold sure makes me do this; Ah global warming you say? :huh:
Click to expand...

You won't find too many politicians or environmentalists using the term global warming. Instead they've changed it to climate change....much more amorphous and easier to defend against the naysayers.....:huh:
 
Tonight's low is only 20. I guess its time to break out a sweatshirt...... :grin:
 
Going to be 11 here in far north Dallas tonight. Below freezing for 3 days straight... Been a few years since it has been that cold! Glad that I got all of the water out of my engine block and poured -50 through everything!
 
Not trying to hijack here. You guys up north are going to laugh. We have had the rare occurance here in Texas with the colder tempatures and the marina has frozen to about a half inch thick. I went yesterday and broke all the ice out of the slip which was about a 1/4 to 3/8 thick and naturally has refroze. The boat has been winterized along with a boat safe bilge heater, so the mechanics are protected. i am worried about the hull being damaged. I have tried the search feature and I guess I couldn't hit the right tag word. Being this is the first time I have ever kept a boat in the water how thick is too thick when it comes to ice? And what is the best way to handle it for all of us people in the south?
 
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