major frost/freeze coming!!!

18 years ago

A blast from the Arctic is going to be diverted directly to California sending freezing conditions around Wednesday this week!

Just when you think it is going to be warm for good, and bam! the outlook's not good.

Here's the accurate forecaster for Sacramento:

Here is a link that might be useful: National Weather Service Forecast Sacramento

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Comments (12)

Heathen1
18 years ago
Well, I guess I move my tropicals back under the eaves.... at least it isn't a major snow storm like the east. This is what we have to deal with during global warming, or so I've read, wild swings.
joereal
Original Author
18 years ago
With respect to citruses, this is one of the worst things that could happen late in the winter. An unwelcome arctic blast. For the past ten days we have enjoyed extremely pleasant 70's spring time temperature. A lot of my citruses were coaxed to form flower buds in response to the warm days. Come wednesday night, the day after valentine's, it will suddenly be colder by 20 to 30 degrees F both for the highs and the lows.

Citrus should be able to take even subfreezing temperature, but the sudden diversion of the jet stream, there is no time to adjust for cold hardening, especially that they are starting to bloom out. It is going to be wipeout. The only hope is a miracle for the winds to change direction. The sudden cold blast is the most damaging to citruses.

My unique citrus collections are all in the process of blooming and I am looking forward to the fruits the first time. Will try to cover them with blankets come Wednesday pm.

Here is a link that might be useful: Special weather announcement
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Roses are hardier than we think and can handle the average spring frost with little if any damage. In my area, our last average frost date is May 15. I prune from Mid March into April. Except for that Easter freeze last year, I've not had a problem. Last year I lost no plants . I just had to prune off the freeze killed growth. Mom Nature takes care of her own. New spring growth contains lots of sugar which is a natural antifreeze that protects against the average frost. Yesterday I picked up 160 hardy rose cuttings. They're in my unheated greenhouse. While day time temps can reach 70-80 on sunny days, night temps fall close to that of the outdoors. None of my cuttings in the unheated greenhouse suffered damage during last springs Easter freeze. With night temps falling to the low 20s and teens now I'm not concerned that the greenhouse roses will suffer any damage. Don't worry about pruning in your area now. Should you experience a prolonged late freeze like last year, cover the bushes with upside down buckets, rose cones, or lay old sheets/tarps/blankets over them.
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Xuan, Walnut Creek had a high of 52 yesterday and a low of 27. That's for Jan. 15th. Today, the 16th high is 52 and low will be 32. Good luck for your plants. You can check your weather easily at weather.com and some other places. I hit 21 again last night but I tried something different with the plants I couldn't cover, I water the bases of all the plants really heavy and they all look good this morning, no further damage. The spiderwort actually perked up a little and it had died back pretty much to the ground as crispy. I noticed on the north side of the house as I recovered bushes for the night that the grass never has thawed out there, it has so much frost in it that it almost looks like snow. I'm really glad that I went ahead and put frost blankets over the mini rose bed there then. Apparently it's not warming in that area at all.
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Don't go so much by the calendar date, although I would definitely not plant anything tender (especially anything raised in a greenhouse) before May 24, or even June 1, if you aren't prepared to cover them. Check the long-term weather forecast for your area, and plant accordingly. The plants don't know what the calendar date is. Even hardy perennials can be damaged, if they were grown in a hoop house or greenhouse, instead of in the ground. If you notice at the nurseries, some perennials will be much more advanced in their growth cycle, than the same type of plant in your garden. Big plants, especially if actually flowering, sell better than smaller, compact ones, even if the latter may be the healthier ones.
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It was very cold here and we had a very hard frost....the kind that looks like white snow on the grass. It was 34 degrees here at 2:00 a.m., and I didn't check the temperatures any more after that because I knew it was going to be worse than expected.....and, at that point, the only issue was how much worse than expected. (G.M., When I saw our temps. at 2 a.m., I checked Carter County's on the internet and y'all were showing 38 degrees at that point, so I'm betting y'all ultimately went down to at least 34 to 36.) Pretty much everything in the garden survived and most were not damaged. I have two tomato plants that probably won't make it, but that's not bad considering I had 58 in the ground. There's about another 10 that show some damage. I probably could leave them alone and they'd bounce back, but I might replace them anyway. I have back-up plants to replace them with, so it isn't a big deal. The damage to the tomatoes was hit or miss, and might have been worse on those whose flower pot/bucket was smaller or more lightweight than those on the other plants. Everything else tender was in the house, the garage or the screened-in back porch so they all are fine. All the perennials are fine. The roses that were blooming look fine. The iris flowers look kind of pitiful. The water lilies are unharmed. Depending on how cold it actually got, and how long it stayed there, the fruit on the fruit trees may not survive. We have one more cold night tonight here in southern OK, with "patchy frost" expected. If you believe the data from the Oklahoma Climatological Survey, the "average" last frost in Love County occurs in the March 22 thru March 31st timeframe. However, we ALWAYS have at least one freezing night significantly later than that, and usually more than one. Here's the last frost date for the years we've lived here: 2007: 32 degrees on 4-15-07 2006: 23 degrees on 4-23-06 2005: 32 degrees on 4-24-05 2004: 32 degrees on 3-31-04 2003: 28 degrees on 4-10-03 2002: 27 degrees on 4-05-02 2001: 32 degrees on 4-24-01 2000: 31 degrees on 4-17-00 1999: 31 degrees on 4-18-99 So, the OCS data doesn't seem reliable for us, but it is based on 30-year averages, and we've only been here and watching the weather here for 9 years. One frustrating thing about the "late" freezes is that, even though they predictably occur in mid- to late-April, they often follow anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks where we've had really nice warm weather and only a couple of cold nights. Randy, I think your wind will be worse than ours. We're only expecting winds of 15 to 25, which seems mild compared to the last few days. It is relatively wind-free here today, and that is nice. Kirts, I hope your ground dries up soon so you can rototill and prepare to plant. We have another round of rain forecast beginning around Thursday. I hope to get the rest of the veggie garden planted this week, except for the real heat lovers like okra and melons. My soil is still pretty wet just a couple of inches below the soil surface, but it is getting better every day. Dawn
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kerrican2001
18 years ago
Looks like central valley is looking much worse than Bay Area inland valleys, although light frosts may be possible. We're looking at temps down to about 35 in Walnut Creek according to NWS, so not likely "devastating" but not great either.
shesalittlebear
18 years ago
Hi Joe,

Thanks for the warning. Should my pomegranate be covered? My grandparents have a very tall grapefruit tree that is covered in fruit. At what temperature should my grandfather cover the tree? I'll make sure to pass on the advice to him.

As a rule of thumb, I always check the weather in the early evening. I do this to determine if my dogs need to be brought inside for the night.
youreit
18 years ago
Ugh, I read that special weather statement on the NWS site right after I did my "spring" pruning yesterday afternoon. I don't mind more rain, but here's hoping for a miraculous wind shift.

Considering there were ice floes in the Gulf of Mexico on this day in 1784, I don't feel so bad. :)

Brenda
follydaces
18 years ago
I'm so glad I stopped by the forum! The gardening bug came out of hibernation and bit me early this year. Normally I don't do any major gardening until March or April, long after the risk for frost is past, but the warm weather called to me and along with pruning I put in a bunch of ferns. Do I need to protect new plantings, and or new rose growth - those babies are all waking up as well.
joereal
Original Author
18 years ago
Perhaps a simple u-haul blanket over them just for the Wednesday night. But it is going to be windy, so frost is not yet in the forecast.
pugsgarden
18 years ago
Yeah, I'm in a bit of a panic! I planted a buddleia "Black Knight" and ceanothus "Dark Star" on Saturday. Guess I'd better put something over them on Wednesday night?? :-(
Heathen1
18 years ago
Well, now they're saying no freeze... just cold... and rain...
joereal
Original Author
18 years ago
Published Forecast for Sacramento Area as of 9:31 am PST

National Weather Service Forecast, 1.7 miles nw of Sacramento
Lows: Wed Night 31 deg F, Thur night 33 deg F

KXTV News 10 forecast
Lows: Wed night 45 deg F, Thur night 42 deg F

KCRA Channel Weather Plus network Forecast
Lows: Wed night 37 deg F, Thur night 37 deg F

Weather.Com forecast
Lows: Wed night 32 deg F, Thur night 35 deg F

I usually find the NSW forecast to be the most accurate over wider scale of weather, but not pinpoint places.

I find the KCRA Channel 3 to be the most accurate for pinpoint places, but they goofed up once in the forecasting of frost, freeze and fog at one point this year. That's only one time goof up so far. However, when it is Mark Finan doing the forecast, he is biased against rainfall events, often predicting a lot less than other forecasters.

Kxtv 10 are also accurate on a general scale, but not pinpoint, and they follow weather.com trends.

The weather.com is usually the least accurate, but they offer long term trend forecasting which I like.
youreit
18 years ago
Since I only check the NWS site for my zip, as well as News10's weather pages, I can only say that the NWS is pretty much on the money for my specific zip (which is a small area, anyway), and that News10 is wrong about 95% of the time (if you don't get the weather from Monica or Elisa, anyway). But I like to live dangerously. :D

The Redding area was threatened with snow at one point in the last couple of days (predicted for some time this weekend), but for once, I'm hoping not. Mom and I have nurseries to visit and plants to snuggle. :)

Brenda
joereal
Original Author
18 years ago
Forecast by NWS is for this coming morning. I'd better protect my plants when I get home tonight!

"Special Weather Statementfrom the National Weather Service:

SHASTA LAKE AREA / NORTHERN SHASTA COUNTY- BURNEY BASIN / EASTERN SHASTA COUNTY-NORTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CENTRAL SACRAMENTO VALLEY-SOUTHERN SACRAMENTO VALLEY- CARQUINEZ STRAIT AND DELTA-NORTHERN SAN JOAQUIN VALLEY- MOUNTAINS SOUTHWESTERN SHASTA COUNTY TO NORTHERN LAKE COUNTY- CLEAR LAKE/SOUTHERN LAKE COUNTY- NORTHEAST FOOTHILLS/SACRAMENTO VALLEY-MOTHERLODE- WESTERN PLUMAS COUNTY/LASSEN PARK- WEST SLOPE NORTHERN SIERRA NEVADA- 430 AM PST TUE FEB 14 2006

...WINTER RETURNS WITH MUCH COLDER TEMPERATURES FOR NORTHERN CALIFORNIA...

SPRINGTIME CONDITIONS WILL BE REPLACED BY SHARPLY COLDER TEMPERATURES AND A RETURN TO RAIN AND SNOW THIS WEEK. A COLD AIRMASS PUSHING SOUTHWARD OUT OF CANADA WILL BRING AN END TO THE MILDER THAN NORMAL TEMPERATURES EXPERIENCED RECENTLY WITH DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURES TODAY EXPECTED TO BE 10 DEGREES OR MORE COOLER THAN OVER THE PAST SEVERAL DAYS. EVEN COOLER TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED ON WEDNESDAY AS THE COLD LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM CLIPS THE NORTH STATE AND THEN MOVES INTO THE GREAT BASIN. ONLY VERY LIGHT AMOUNTS OF PRECIPITATION ARE EXPECTED WITH THIS DRY SYSTEM WITH MOST SHOWERS OVER THE MOUNTAINS BUT SNOW LEVELS ARE LIKELY TO BE QUITE LOW.

WEDNESDAYS DAYTIME HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE LIKELY TO BE AS MUCH AS 15 TO 20 DEGREES BELOW THOSE OF SUNDAY AND MONDAY. OVERNIGHT LOWS WILL BE MUCH COLDER AS WELL...WITH HIGHER MOUNTAIN VALLEYS DROPPING INTO THE TEENS AND SINGLE DIGITS WHILE 20S AND 30S WILL OCCUR IN THE FOOTHILLS AND CENTRAL VALLEY.

A SECOND COLD SYSTEM WILL DROP SOUTHWARD INTO NORTHERN CALIFORNIA ON FRIDAY AND WILL KEEP CONDITIONS COLD AND UNSTABLE THROUGH THE PRESIDENTS DAY WEEKEND. PRECIPITATION IS AGAIN FORECAST TO BE RELATIVELY LIGHT WITH THIS SYSTEM BUT SNOW LEVELS WILL REMAIN QUITE LOW WITH SNOWFALL POSSIBLE TO THE LOWER FOOTHILLS. "

major frost/freeze coming!!!

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major frost/freeze coming!!!

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