2022 Christmas Freeze Advisory
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Collapse ▲Be prepared for the upcoming 2022 Christmas Freeze
in collaboration with AWIS Weather Services
An upcoming freeze will push cold air from Central Canada all they way to the Mid-Atlantic, Mid-West and Southeast. In parts of Tennessee, Northern Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, Illinois, Ohio, Iowa, West Virginia, Kentucky and others, temperatures can get even into the negative teens!
Temperatures in the Southeast and the Mid-Atlantic will be mostly in the single digits or the teens, starting the night from Thursday (12/22) to Friday (12/23). The cold airmass is transporting quite some rain/snow, which will mostly fall, starting Wednesday-Thursday in our region.
This deep freeze will be accompanied by higher wind gusts, especially on Friday, 12/23 in most regions that we cover (Southeast, Mid-Atlantic). Sustained windspeeds of 10-15 mph (gusts of 30-40 mph) are predicted for the NC mountains, up to 40 mph (gusts 60 mph) at the entire coast line.
It will get slightly warmer and less windy on Christmas day and the week later.
Recommendations:
This is a serious situation that warrants the use of floating row-covers to protect your strawberry plants in most areas. An exception would be when the minimum temperatures in your area does not fall significantly below 20 F AND your strawberry plants are fully dormant. This can be the case for coastal NC, coastal SC and parts of GA.
It is important to check you weather update daily (see table below).
The vast majority of the area face different problems. If the predicted min temperatures are in the low teens or single digits, protection with a 1.0-1.5 oz floating row cover is warranted. At even lower temperatures, you might think about double covering, if you have the resources.
With the predicted wind-speeds, it is very important that the covers are secured and no holes or other openings are visible. Make sure and double check if your covers are secure before Thursday night.
There is also a chance that covers will cause damage to plant parts, especially to leaves. However, during this event you first and foremost want to avoid crown damage.
Unfortunately, especially if the temperatures get into the low single digits or even below zero, there is not a full guarantee that you will be able to save all your crop.
Last but not least, monitor your weather and reach out to me or your regional specialists/agents/consultants if you have any questions.
As always, I hope this helps and I wish everyone good luck through then next days.
General Discussion:
*** Bitter Cold, And Wind Pushes East And South Into Christmas
Deep low pressure will dig Southeast from the Central High Plains
into the Mid South, then turn East/Northeast through the
Ohio Valley into the Great Lakes Region late this week into the
Christmas Weekend.
A cold front will drag behind this low pressure with bitter arctic
air following it on Brisk N/NW winds.
There will be some accumulating snow on the back side of this
low pressure, mainly from Northern Tennessee and points Northward,
and along the Appalachian Mountain chain.
The main story will be a hard freeze for a large part of the
Eastern and Interior Areas of the Southeast from just before
Christmas to just after Christmas Day.
Some of the Northern and Western areas may not get above freezing
for a 2-4 day period.
Coldest minimums will range from single digits to below zero across
the Ohio Valley Regions, with teens deep into Northern areas of
Interior Southeast.
Strong winds will accompany this cold invasion at its beginning
from Friday into Christmas Day.
Growers will need to monitor the latest forecasts for their area.
Please be advised by consultant specialists on how to handle this
cold event with use of crop covers, and timing of their placements
and type of cover(s) to utilize.
A warming pattern is anticipated by the middle of next week, between
Christmas and New Years, with no additional significant cold events
into the beginning of the New Year.
Next significant rain chances for most areas will come towards the end
of this year and beginning of the New Year.
Updated Maps for Friday (12/23) and Saturday (12/24)
Figure 1: Updated map for predicted minimum temperatures Friday (12/23) and Saturday (12/24).