Cold air is arriving in portions of the Mid Atlantic and the Northeast tonight, prompting the National Weather Service to issue Freeze Warnings for some. Frost and freeze advisories are typically issued at the end of the growing season or early in the growing season when gardeners and farmers may have planted early crops after the traditional last threat of frost or freeze.
Freeze Warnings have been issued for some areas where overnight lows are expected to drop into the upper 20s and lower 30s tonight, with the lowest temperatures expected between midnight and daybreak. Frost and freeze conditions may damage sensitive vegetation. The National Weather Service encourages those in the Freeze Warning areas to take steps now to protect tender plants and buds from the cold.
A Freeze Warning means that sub-freezing temperatures are imminent or highly likely. Freeze conditions may damage sensitive vegetation.
While temperatures are expected to be below freezing across Pennsylvania and New Jersey and locations north, a Freeze Warning isn’t needed because the growing season hasn’t begun there yet. Typically the date of last freeze and frost for these areas is after April 30. However, recent milder temperatures may have led some gardeners to be complacent about cold air, and as such, may have done a jump start on their spring plantings. Because a killing frost/freeze is expected there even without the Freeze Warning, people should protect any early plantings they put outside.
