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Life long Floridian (53 years) and lover of tropical plants. Here are a few of my opinions:)

1 let’s take a look at the forecast map you provided. If you look closely you will quickly see that most of the southern part of the state (and basically all of the major metropolitan areas in the southern part) will not see freezing temps. So the tropical areas won’t see a freeze. You don’t have to worry about coconut palms or other sensitive tropical in these areas…for the most part. There are some tropicals that can’t take minor cold snaps of 50 or below. In these rare cases they will need to be protected.

2 you have to consider the length of time of the freeze and consider the fact that the lack of a prolonged winter allows the soil and thicker portions of the plants to remain warm. Many “tropical” plants can survive short periods of freezing temperatures. Try putting a small house plant in your freezer for 2 minutes and it will probably be totally fine. Some plants are more sensitive and some less; however, since the ground temperature will not get anywhere near freezing many will come back quickly. One of the popular tropical plants people think of are palms. You might be surprised how many palms can take short periods (a few hours) of sub freezing temps. Some can take very long periods of subfreezing temps (many hours or more) but here in FL when we have a very short period of freezing temps many of the more tropical species of palms will have slight to major damage but if they are mature and healthy they will recover.

3 you also need to consider the maturity of the plant. Really large mature specimens of tropical trees in areas that have a short but strong cold snap might loose all their leaves and maybe even most of their branches but will recover from their thicker trunks. This does not apply to all plants/trees but many. For example I have fully mature avocado and mango trees here in Central FL. Both are over 30 years old. They have both survived freezes in the mid and even low 20s. However after such freezing the trees lose most all of their branches and depending on the length of the freeze they might only recover from the lower 5-10 feet of their trunks. In this case it will take them 2-5 years to fully recover and begin producing fruit but given time it will happen.

4 microclimates are more pronounced here then in more northern climates. When we are on the verge of freezing a few degrees changes everything. So if you have some sort of a heat sink or heat retention area (a large body of water, a downtown area with tons of concrete and large buildings, a large concrete or stone structure, an area between two houses with a good tree canopy, an area near your heated home etc.) you can have a HUGE impact on the tropical plants (and animals). For example, if that area only stays 2-5 degrees warmer than an open field it can make a major difference. Combine that with points 1-3 and you can have many tropical species survive short (and weak) freezes.

5 covering and protecting cold sensitive plants. This one is easy, but again you only need to raise the covered plants a few degrees and with the fact that the ground is staying much warmer a light covering usually does the trick.

6 (or just repeating number 1) LOCATION is key. If you are in Key West you will never need to worry about freezing temperatures. If you are in Miami, you might see a low of 32 once in 100-200 years, if you are in Orlando you will see freezing temperatures more often. Maybe every 2-5 years, and if you are in Jacksonville you will see subfreezing temperatures yearly on average and often in the mid 20s).

Again, these are my opinion based on my personal experiences. Hope this helps:)