AWIS Weather Advisory (4/7): Watch out for more Frost this weekend

Dear all,

Strawberry season is in full swing in most of North Carolina. But we are still in early April. That means the threat of frost/freeze events is real. With plenty of blossoms open and fruit on the plants, you will need to protect if you local weather predicts frost. Highest frost threats will be Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11) mornings, with some areas in the West seeing Frost already on Saturday (4/9).

General Discussion

A continued trend of multiple upper level disturbances moving
from West to East will prevail in the next couple weeks.

This will mean the recent trends of showers and storm
chances every few days, with warming ahead of each one, and
colder behind them to continue.

It is still begin of April. We are ahead of schedule with the strawberry season in most of the Southeast, but it also means we have to protect more often.

Highest freeze and frost risks looks to be Sunday (4/10) and Monday (4/11) morning,
but a few Western and Northern areas could experience a freeze
or frost as early as Saturday morning.

Continued potential issues with handling of wet crop covers
can be expected given the anticipated rain ahead of the next cold.

Temperatures Maps & Recommendations

Figure 1: Minimum Temperatures for the region from 4/9-4/11 2022.

Please monitor you current weather, and especially predicted wet bulb and dewpoint temperatures for your location.  We are facing a frost threat in the coming days. Clear nights with min temperatures in the 30s can already cause damage to you blossoms (Table 1).

The use of row-cover or overhead sprinklers should protect your plants from the predicted frost threat this weekend. In most regions there should be enough time between rainfalls and the need to use row covers to minimize the threat of wet row-cover damaging the plants. If overhead is used, it is also important to start early, especially with low predicted dew-points. We have a detailed basic strawberry frost protection seminar that you should watch to learn more on frost protection especially: 2022 Strawberry Cold Protection 101

Table 1: These are the temperatures at plant level that will damage your plant. Pleas be aware that air temperatures in a frost event can be much higher. Watch for dew points!!

Detailed Regional Forecasts:

North Carolina

South Carolina:

Georgia:

Virginia:

Maryland: