I just looked up the bio of our local forecaster. He's not a meteorologist! He's hosted game shows, disco dancing shows, even hosted the David Letterman show as a substitute host. He's been a disc jockey too, but he doesn't have a degree in the science of meteorology. Apparently he does write his own forecasts. Arktrees, you wrote: TV personalities who's primary job most of the time is to get viewers........ You are so right! I've never paid serious attention to forecasts before this year, but now that I have I can see, at least from my forecaster, it's all about hype. It could be a simple cold front moving through, but the way he describes it you'd think aliens were invading.

I would loosely cover the peonies and maybe the shrubs with burlap. Nothing's going to rot in two days under burlap. It's easy to remove if the weather warms up. I don't even think the lilac would be harmed but I'm not sure about the others. The tulips I wouldn't worry about at all, you might get a little reddish discolouration on the leaves but they will be fine.

Jay, How in the world were they 10 degrees off on your forecast low? lol You just know if they miss my forecast low by 10 degrees, it means we go 10 degrees colder instead of ten degrees warmer. I am really glad the cold hasn't materialized there this morning. One night down, two more to go! I wish you were having our weather this morning as we've had on-and-off rain and high (but not too high!) wind since around 4 a.m. We didn't especially "need" the rain as we still were plenty wet from last week's rain and I know you sure could use it. So far the hail has missed us. Our greenhouse frame has been up for so long now without its covering that I'm beginning to think it looks normal "naked". Every time it hails, though, I'm glad the greenhouse cover is still in its' box in the garage, where it may stay until autumn, since we're already having some pretty hot days here. We have had the most hail events at our house this year that we've ever had in one year and it is only May 1st. I don't know when you'll get that calm weather you need in order to finish both greenhouses, but a calm day has to occur sooner or later. The lower portion of my garden where plants grow at grade level instead of in raised beds is now a pond, but since it has been wet for a couple of weeks now, nothing is planted there yet anyway--and likely won't be for some time. I'm not going to complain about the rain because we need it so badly. I just hope the drier portions of OK, TX and KS get some of this rainfall today too. Dawn

kr222, I just saw that weather report, too. 37 tonight, and tomorrow night, the same thing. It's May 17th --- I should be getting my tomatoes in the ground, not firing up the woodstove! Tomatoes are still in the sunny window, and I had to transplant them into bigger containers. Ditto the peppers. On the upside, it's been a GREAT spring for spinach. Has anyone checked a farmer's almanac in regard to the weather? Was this cold weather predicted? Just wondering. PAM - south central PA