New England, Northern New York To Freeze Tonight

It's been a summery May so far in New England, but
widespread frosts and freezes are likely in the
interior Northeast tonight.  

After a brutal winter, things went directly to summer this May around my house in St. Albans, Vermont and in the rest of New England and northern New York.

Temperatures have run well above normal, and we've had spates of summerlike 80 degree weather and humidity.

That had people asking me if it was OK for them to set out their tomato plants and other sensitive vegetation earlier than usual. I've cautioned against it, over and over.

Well, I told you not to do it, so don't cry to me if your sensitive garden plants bite the dust in tonight's cold.

Freeze warnings are up tonight for a big swath across much of New York and New England. Northern Pennsylvania is under the gun, too. It takes just one cold night in an otherwise warm month to really screw things up, and tonight's your proof.

If you're able to bring any frost sensitive plants indoors tonight, do it. If you put your tomato plants in your gardens, cover them up, but even that might not do any good.

It'll probably get cold enough, especially away from Lake Champlain and away from larger urban areas, like Montreal, Quebec and Albany, New York, to kill pretty much any tomato, pepper, cucumber or squash plant out there.

Attention garden centers and nurseries: Be ready for a flood of Saturday customers shopping for  plants to replace the ones frozen and blackened by tonight's freeze.

I wouldn't be surprised if some of the coldest hollows in the Adirondacks and far northern New England get into the low 20s tonight. Most places away from the Champlain Valley will get below freezing.

The only place in northern New England that seems relatively safe from the frost is Grand Isle County, Vermont. That spot is surrounded by the comparatively warm Lake Champlain, and should pretty much escape the frost.

After the frost and freeze Saturday morning, it'll start to warm up, especially by Sunday.

All of next week, it's back to our early summer in the Northeast, with daily highs in the 80s, fairly high humidity and daily chances of afternoon thundershowers. A few places could maybe, just may e  reach 90 degree in the Northeast on Wednesday.

My advice? It's finally safe to put your tomatos and peppers out in your garden maybe on Monday, Memorial Day. Which is the traditional northern New England benchmark and when you should do this.

I told ya!