How cold did it get?? This is an exceptionally cold tolerant evergreen.....listed hardy to zone 2! I'd suspect something else is causing the bronzing....wind burn or dessication, salt exposure, dry soils going into winter or maybe even undetected mite damage before winter.

I've never seen one recover from that degree of browning/bronzing............

The low temps were in the minus single digits. The wind chill temps were probably minus 25 or worse. It was 2-3 incredible stretches of weather in December with no snow cover. I'm expecting other damage too. I'm trying to think if the fall had good rainfall or not. I vaguely recall very wet and very dry but I can't say in which order.

It was soooooo cold for days and days, I didn't even walk the dog. She had to do her business on a leash from the sliders to the patio. And boy was she quick :-)

It kinda reminds me of several years ago when local rhodies had similar damage. Brown rhodies as far as the eye could see. They came back nicely though after pruning.

Well, zone 2 is -50F so I think these guys had plenty of wiggle room if you only got into the minus single digits :-) So I will restate my belief that it is not just cold damage but something else. Dessication/windburn is a strong possibility.

I'm sure it has to do with the wind. It was awful. And for extended periods. I was walking today and saw 8 with the same browning to some degree. Interestingly, the brown areas all face south. And they are all on the same side of the street. Across the street, the DAS's are fine.

Pruning is not an option? Lite trim to stimulate growth perhaps?

Just FYI, Wendy, I had planted several new things in fall so I kept an active eye on our water situation. Our fall up here north of Portland was very conveniently evenly wet. We got rain when it was useful, neither too wet nor too dry, but probably wetter than your average fall because they can tend to be dry anyway. It was a perfect fall for us as far as establishing new plants.

I also wouldn't prune them for fear of removing the buds that will allow the needles to be replaced to make the plant green again. Since IME those dead needles will drop, I would just be patient.

Got it. Let Mother nature do her thing. thx