UPDATE 12:45 AM, 4/7: Freeze warning issued Saturday morning for first of several cold mornings in next week
UPDATE 12:45 AM, 4/7: Dry air in place will help temperatures rebound quickly from chilly morning lows into the 60s. Easter Sunday will be even a little warmer. Nice Easter weekend ahead. END UPDATE
As expected, the National Weather Service has placed much of the western and central Virginia under a freeze warning for Saturday morning, with lows in the upper 20s/low 30s expected. Franklin, (UPDATE 4:25 PM: Franklin County included in freeze warning). Henry and Patrick counties and several counties west of Interstate 77 are under a frost advisory with not-quite-as-cold temperatures expected (though don’t be surprised if some spots in those areas also hit freezing). Roanoke/Salem city may squeak out with slightly above-freezing temperatures, too, as surrounding county areas go below 32, but the point is that everywhere in our region will have temperatures at or very near a level capable of doing some damage to plants that have bloomed or greened early in March’s record warmth. It doesn’t appear likely that any more than a very few isolated locations (and if you’re a farmer or gardener, you probably already know if your local microclimate is one of those that typically gets a little colder) will experience a “hard freeze,” with 3 or more hours of temperatures below 28 degrees. But, nevertheless, it’s advisable for anyone with sensitive outdoor plants to take precautions overnight. Cold, dry Canadian air over the region will allow for maximum radiational cooling overnight, with clear skies and calm winds.
We are entering what I would describe as an April cool spell — not quite a cold snap or hard freeze — for about the next week or so. Temperatures will average 5 degrees or so below-normal on many days, but it does not appear likely prolonged winterlike chill similar to April 2007 will develop. A deep southerly dip in the jet stream over the eastern U.S. will allow a repeated series of cold fronts to reinforce the cool, dry air mass, with most days seeing chilly lows in the 30s (some 20s) and frost on many mornings followed by fairly mild afternoon highs in the upper half of the 50s and 60s. Easter Sunday appears likely to be the warmest day of the next week, with sunny skies and westerly downsloping winds pumping highs into the upper 60s to mid 70s after a cold start in the 30s to low 40s. With low humidities and strong breezes behind a weak reinforcing cold front, there may be an enhanced fire danger for a few hours on Sunday afternoon, so be aware of that if you have outdoor plans. Some upper-air impulses along with new shots of Canadian air in the early to mid part of next week may be sufficient to trigger a few snow showers, as limited moisture is squeezed out on northwesterly winds lifting over the Appalachians, primarily in the overnight and morning hours in the higher elevations (3.000-plus) west of Interstate 81.
April 6, 2012 - 8:08 AM
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Betsy posted this piece on tips to protect your garden in the last thread: http://awaytogarden.com/17-degrees-coping-with-spring-frost-in-a-garden
Blog is definitely open to comments regarding any suggestions/links along this line for gardeners/farmers/plant growers of any kind. It’s not my area of expertise, but it is some of yours.
My dad continues to assure me that my onions will be ok. I just got them set out 2 days ago. Should I just water them well and hope for the best?
Thanks Kevin for posting Betsy’s link. With frost on the plants – you can spray water on them – do it before the sun hits them! But with a freeze that won’t work. Best to cover with “something” for a freeze. Remember to uncover your plants once the sun is up and it warms up. You don’t want to “bake them”.
Nurse Snow – onions should be fine – garlic also. Not sure about watering them though.
Strawberry flowers; young spinach and lettuce and any other greens may need a blanket. Of course the flowers in the flower beds – peonies, roses, poppies, stargazer lilies etc. will need a covering.
Cold weather crops(broccoli,cabbage,onions,garlic,turnips,kale)can withstand light frost and temps down to around 28.Even potatoes can take a light frost and come back,but tomatoes,corn,beans,squash,cucumbers peppers and other warm weather crops will die at 32 degrees.You can cover the plants with bedsheets,plastic,fabric anything that will not smash the plants but cover them and keep them from freezing.
Thank you Doppler Carol and ican. It’s my first go at having my own garden and I really don’t want everything to die on me LOL
Good article on Accuweather on how folks deal with frost/freeze. Watering is said to keep the air warmer and spraying the plants with water after a frost and before the sun comes up also has been mentioned. Kevin, you might check in here on these methods before somebody takes my advise and kills every last one of them. Seems the air is harder to cool off when the stuff is wet. An old timey box fan will also stir the air enough to make a difference sometimes, especially in a frost situation. A hard freeze jest can’t be prevented by any practical means available to home owners that I know off without more work and expense than it’s worth.
D. Carol, you mentioned lettuce needing a blanket. Last year, I planted one of my container pots for tomatoes with lettuce[simpson, I think] and eat off it til time to put in the mater plants. Pulled it up and thrwed it to the side. This year in late winter I saw something that looked like lettuce coming up so didn’t bother it. One single bunch came up and lasted til I weedwacked it last week. Was covered with snow, had frost on it and was in freezing temps. And it was better looking than anything I raised last year. And no, I didn’t plant anythingthere this year so it was a volunteer. Now that’s tough.
Franklin County added to freeze warning.
http://www.erh.noaa.gov/rnk/emer/emer.php
I had two lettuce plants that I planted in the fall from seed overwinter this year…first time ever in my longlonglong gardening career…
Gardening fans, I just watched Brent Watts give the 5:20 PM WDBJ7 forecast, and before he got into the weather details, he gave advice about how to protect plants and flowers. I don’t know what his source was. Anyway, he said to cover the vegetation with something that will “breathe,” such as burlap. Just very gently lay it on top of the plants/flowers. Another possibility was cardboard, although for the life of me I don’t understand that one. Maybe if they cover without touching the plants ….?? The big warning he gave was AGAINST using plastic. Said that would bake the plants and flowers once the sun hit it tomorrow morning, which makes sense. I suppose that plastic might work great IF IF IF the homeowner gets out there early tomorrow morning 5 minutes before the sun hits it and removes the plastic, or maybe punches holes in it after the sun comes up but while the temp is still below freezing?? Then removes it pronto once 31* or 32* is attained.
Somebody please contradict me if anything I typed above is wrong or bad advice. I learned a few things about gardening from my dad, but I am not a gardener.
Thanks Betsy. At least folks won’t think I’m blowin smoke. Not that I care. I nose what I was lookin at. First time I recall that also.
**** THE FOLLOWING IS NOT WEATHER-RELATED, EXCEPT MAYBE A TINY BIT. So Rich, please skip it. It will go into at least one more comment, because I fear the CAPTCHA CODE. It was very funny.
The following is a retelling of a true episode from my days as a tiny tyke, and my parents told their friends and neighbors about it for years. Since a lot more people read this blog on Fridays than the weekend, I thought it best to tell it today rather than tomorrow night or Sunday morning.
It was Easter Sunday, possibly April 10th 1955, but more likely April 1st, 1956. Assuming it was the latter, that makes it even more appropriate. I was not quite 5 years old on 4-1-56. My family lived in Melrose, MA, 8 miles north of Boston. Late March and early April are “mud season” up there. Dad had built me a sandbox the previous summer, but in early April, it was one big mudbox.
Mom took us four kids to church for Easter services, and I was wearing my very first suit, and wearing it for the first time. When we arrived home, Mom and my older brother Artie and sister Donna made the mistake of not keeping an eye on me. Everyone else brought things inside (maybe a few grocery items for the Easter dinner?). About 15 minutes after we arrived home, Mom and brother Artie looked out into the back yard from the kitchen window and to my Mom’s horror, there was little “Dougie the Demon” having the time of his young life in the mudbox ….. with his brand new Easter suit still on!!! On my knees, of course.
What happened next was a classic. MORE IN SEPARATE COMMENT!!
EASTER MUDBOX STORY continued … Dad was in his old clothes on the other side of the back yard, with his back to me, doing some hoeing and getting the garden ready for planting. Mom took the bottom end of a big wooden spoon and rapped on the window pane to get his attention. Dad looked at her, she pointed to me, rubbed one index finger angrily across the other, and Dad got the signal …. corral the 5-year-old and bring him inside immediately.
So they watched as Dad walked across the back yard, bent down and tapped me on the shoulder. They saw me turn around and look at him, a bit annoyed that I had been disturbed from playing. They saw Dad mouth a very brief question with a very stern look on his face, then saw me utter a mere 4 or 5 words in response, then saw Dad double over with laughter. He laughed for about 10-12 seconds.
But then he regained his composure, “explained things” to me as they say in West Virginia, and dragged me crying a bit into the house. Of course both Mom and Artie had to know what on earth had just happened. Dad recounted: “Well, I went over there and gruffly asked Dougie, ‘What do you think you’re doing, young man?!?!’ Dougie replied, ‘AW, GO PWANT YOUR FWOWERS!’ ”
HAPPY EASTER WEEKEND, EVERYONE. And I remembered to remind folks about the full moon and having KM on the radio at 6:10 A.M., but forgot to mention/wish everyone a “GOOD FRIDAY!”
3 different stations calling for low to mid 30′s. Looks like downtown and nearby areas will dodge the bullet. If my weather history repeats, I should too. However, Poagues Farm area and top of the mountain will probably get a freeze, certainly frost. It will boil down to the duration of each event and what the wind does. Hope it blows. Good luck folks.
I learned by listening to what the folks do in Florida with the strawberries when they expect a frost – they spray with water. But then they also put those smudge pots out for warmth – I think. We have “watered” our things before in the garden and it has worked but not when you have a freeze. All my pots are out and even using a few beach towels for covering. Yes, plastic trash bags will work but you better get them off before the sun hits them and warms it up. Keeping our fingers crossed that all survive the cold tonight.
wdbrand – the kindling and paper are in the woodstove just waiting for the match.
The purpose of using plastic as I have used it, was to trap any heat the ground had soaked up during the day. Put on after the suns down and it does the job. If you fail to get up before sun-up and take it off, you’ll end up with plants just like you would have if you hadn’t covered them at all. As far as cutting holes in the plastic, you’re defeating the purpose of it in the first place. It is used to trap heat, not let it escape. Either get up at dark thirty and be ready to pull it just after the suns come up and before there’s much heat in it or figger to replant, cause the plastic will cook them. In a freeze situation of any duration, plastic touching the leaves ain’t so to very good either. You gotta keep it up off the plants.
D. Carol, there’s a lot of science behind how growers save their crops. Spraying keeps frost from forming on leaves/berries. Water freezes when spraying and if the temps are going down to the mid 20′s, the ice tends to keep the temps higher. Also, wet ground doesn’t cool as fast in a no wind, low temp sit. that evaporational cooling and low dp’s cause. Or so I’ve heard. Kevin, you better get in here befoe I help kill every plant in the forecast area and set me straight.
I think the warning about plastic has to do with using a clear plastic to cover plants that could act as a greenhouse letting light in and trapping the heat to ‘cook’ a plant that way. I’ve used plastic before that was not clear and it was fine. Yes I do take it off the plants in the morning once the temp has made it above freezing. Dark plastic could still cook the plants if left on too long once the sun was up and heated the surface of the plastic but should provide more time before that happens as what’s underneath is shaded from direct sun. I’m talking thick plastic here we’re not talking about trying to ‘saran wrap’ your plants haha
And yes as wd said above I try to keep the plastic tarp from touching the plants if possible by breaking sticks and sticking them in the ground at different points to support the tarp slightly above the plants.
We have some peonies that we are going to cover with plastic buckets. Would we need to uncover them before the sun is up or would it be okay to leave them until about 7?
Hi Emily G: I’ve used plastic buckets (have some plants under those now) and you would be fine to leave those on until shortly after sun up. If the bucket is a good bit larger than the plant even if it gets hit with direct sun as soon as it comes up it should be alright if you remove it in a reasonable amount of time. If the bucket is shaded in the morning there is no huge rush just uncover it when you wake up and get going.
Roanoke’s dew point is 15 tonight, relative humidity is 18 percent. That dry air will aid in the temperature drop overnight. Also will help temperatures warm quickly once the sun is out. 30-40-degree temp swings between lows and highs will be common this weekend.
Dry air will also raise concerns about fire danger, especially Sunday when winds pick up a bit.
Illustrating the likely short-lived nature of this coming week’s “cool spell” — take a look at the Climate Prediction Center maps and the sudden shift between the 6-10-day and 8-14-day periods.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/610temp.new.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814temp.new.gif
It looks a little wetter in the later period.
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/610day/610prcp.new.gif
http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/predictions/814day/814prcp.new.gif
If tomorrow’s high and low for Roanoke match what both “7″ and the NWS are forecasting … 68 and 34 … that will be a mean of 51, which is 3 degrees below normal mean of 54. And in a relative rarity, the negative variance will be caused by a cold low temp overcoming a high temp that is actually 2 degrees above the normal high of 66. As KM mentioned, Sunday looks to be the warmest day of the coming week, which is great for churchgoers and many others, but most of the rest of the week looks like it will be what KM mentioned, a cool spell, Roanoke’s first one of 3+ days in a looooong time.
Normal mean temp for ROA moves to 54.5 for Monday and Tuesday, 55 for Wed.-Fri, and 56 for Saturday the 14th. Using “7″‘s 7-day Planner, they are forecasting mean temps for ROA of 51.5 on Tuesday, 48 for Wed., 48.5 for Thurs. and 48 again for Friday.
For Blacksburg: NWS is forecasting the following high/lows for Tuesday through Friday. 55/39 … 53/32 … 54/33 … 53/34. Normal means for Blacksburg for those 4 days are 48 for Tuesday, and 49 for the other 3 days. Tuesday looks to be practically normal (a negative 1), but the other three days all look to be 4.5 to 5.5 degrees below normal. …….. If it verifies.
I have Swiss chard in the backyard that never died over winter so I’m sure it will be okay this go-around. I’m camping this weekend up in southern PA near the AT trail, helping my TN friend with her next section of hiking with shuttling. Guess the down sleeping bag is coming along! Plan to visit Gettysburg…the weather looks perfect for that.
It is already down to 41 F and the wind is dying down. All plants that I could cover are tucked in.
Fire in wood stove is now blazing. Will check in tomorrow morning with our lows – before I start removing the covers on the plants.
I’m down to only 48* here, Doppler C., but that is a 13* drop in less than 4 hours. It was 61* at about 7:15, and 54* at 8:45. As Kevin pointed out, with clear skies, negative wind, and air so dry that it feels like the desert, it is no wonder that the degrees are dropping like crazy. I think you might be headed for 25, DC, maybe even 2 or 3 degrees colder. I bet I stay in the 33 or above range.
As usual, the NWS in Morristown, TN seems to forget that some of us are colder than their TN counties. AS of right now we are sitting at 42 degrees and skys are clear and winds are light. I suspect that we will fall to the upper 20′s and if my memory serves me right, that would consitute a freeze and not a frost. We are under a frost warning. I have just come inside from covering my hostas which are just coming up good. Covered my french lilac which has buds, covered my azaleas which are budded and covered my peonias which are just up. Could not cover everything but covered as much as possible. Glad my garden is not planted.
Here are the low temperatures from another April 7 …. 4-7-2007, the coldest morning of that 6-day super cold snap.
Blacksburg: 21. Bluefield, WV: 19. Lynchburg: 29. Roanoke: 28. If I remember, I will check them out a little before 7 AM tomorrow and see what they are then for those 4 locations. I have a feeling that tomorrow’s low temps won’t be quite that low, especially in Blacksburg and Bluefield.
Michael: If I could, I’d get y’all annexed into Blacksburg’s forecast area.
We don’t have the full-scale blocking pattern in the high latitudes we had in ’07, when the the Arctic air dislodged southward not much different than it would in January. This is April ’07 Jr.
41.5* @ 5 AM. Think I’ll get by on this one, but it looks like touch and go for the outlieing areas like Penn Forest. Valleys will get at least frost if not a touch of freezing temps.
25* this morning with heavy frost here in Woodlawn….glad nothing planted yet!
Great comment by KM at 11:10 PM. So far this cold morning under-performed, thankfully. Never got below 37* at my house …. no freeze, no frost, not even dew. RRA, temp was 36* a couple of minutes ago, down from 37 at 6 AM. Lynchburg: 33* down from 37 at 6:00. Blacksburg VT Airport, 32 a couple of minutes ago, down from 34* at 6 AM. Bluefield was 30 at a wunderground site in the south side of town at 6 AM, but Mercer County Airport (elevtn over 2800 feet) was a toasty 39* a couple of minutes ago.
The cold spot?? Hi, Rick!! King’s Weather Station in Wytheville was 26.5 at 6 AM, don’t have time to check it now. Probably fell another degree or two.
26 F and no wind this Saturday morning. Some frost in garden; had to break the ice on the chickens’ water and on the dogs’ water.
My thermometer in southern Roanoke County (1400 elevation) bottomed out at 34.
Was 25.4 at the nearby Kings Weather Station. I had 27 and did not cover my strawberries. There was way too much wind to do that at bedtime……….was hoping the wind would stay up. Time will tell.
Only got down to 37 here in the flat lands of Goochland Co. this morning but no frost. Humidity level was only 19%.
Only 37.9 for a low here in Goodview.
Its gotten so dry up here in north central Virginia that they have fire watches posted! This dry weather does make for some fine golf greens. Running 10-11 on the stump and are as hard as a rock! However we need rain very badly. Kevin, been a few weeks since we saw rain, any good chances in foreseeable future? That is for Greene county. My parents tell me Giles has been like a rainforest as of late.
I arose at 7 am and is was 29 here at the Chapel. Lots of frost but not sure how much damage was done. A beautiful days has dawned before us.
Doug, don’t miss Blondie in the comics section of Saturday morning’s Roanoke Times.
Made out like a bandit here on da Knob. 36.7* was the lowest it got at 6:43 AM. Different story soon as I dropped off the hill and hit 221. Saw 32* and a fairly heavy frost. Looks like some higher valleys had freezing temps tho. Depends on how low and how long as to the damage to fruit.
Roanoke airport official low was 34.
Jared, thanks for your report, and I sure do hope you start getting some real rains soon. As for your golf greens, you (and most other golfers, I must admit) and I have a huge difference of opinion. I despise hard, fast greens.
**** NOT WEATHER RELATED. Thanks, Lexingtonian, I just looked it up. I thought it might be one about a dog, but it was about my job and the weather. A Classic.
One of our alltime favorite comic strips was a Red and Rover from many years ago. It kind of makes me sad now, because it recalls funnier days when our dog Blondie was young and fast and crazy and very funny. First space shows Rover sleeping on the living room floor. 2nd space showed Red ringing the doorbell and leaving the front door open. Final space shows Rover running through the open front door at the speed of light and barking the whole time. That was EXACTLY what Blondie used to do if he heard a doorbell, or even heard the doorbell on a pizza ad on tv. Went nutso.
No sign of significant rainfall through at least Friday. Very dry air will be in place. Pattern starts shifting a bit after that, so a central US storm system with Gulf moisture may start moving in by early the following week (around the 17th or so).
Well, anybody seeing anything wilted over today? Nothing here.
Had some damage to my japanese maple and I have one crepe myrtle and it had just put out some leave and they are fried now. My neighbors raise lilacs on their place and they sustained quite a bit of damage. The owner was out hosing things down at 4 am and went inside with ice all over her clothes. Do not believe it helped much.
Visibility is truly outstanding now. We can easily see the former NORAD tower on Apple Orchard Mountain, 40 miles away. I saw Lindsay Tapases (spelling?) of Channel 13 a few minutes ago. She showed the humidity levels throughout their viewing area, and the highest one was 20% (I don’t recall where … Southside?). But the driest location was Hillsville …. 9 …. NINE!!!! %
Michael Hoback, be a nice guy and tell your neighbor lady about this blog. Maybe burlap would have limited the damage.
Mike, I doubt if spraying trees/bushes helps that much. Seems that spraying is limited to low growing berry crops and getting rid of frost before the sun hits it. A freeze is another animal, and again, not much the home owner can practically do about it.