Brutal Cold To Ease Up, But Dry, Chilly Weather Continues; More Southern Tornado Drama

Bowed but unbroken? Daffodils once again sag after a brutally
cold, subfreezing night in St. Albans, Vermont but it still looks
like they have a shot at reviving when it warms up 

It looks like those Vermont daffodils have a shot of surviving after all.

Last night and this morning were certainly very cold for this time of year, but due to I think two factors, the chill didn't go quite as deep as it could have.

The core of the coldest air from Canada several thousand feet overhead was over northern New England during the day Wednesday. That's why, really amazingly for this time of year, temperatures never did get above freezing in much of the Northeast Kingdom, all day.

Although the air overhead remained incredibly chilly for late April, the coldest of the air had moved off to the northeast by late last night and this morning. That helped keep temperatures at the surface a wee bit milder than they would have.

More importantly, the wind kept going all night. It wasn't strong by any means. But to get the coldest possible temperatures on a clear night, you need light winds or no winds to get the best conditions to radiate heat to outer space.

That didn't happen last night. Temperatures did get into the upper teens in the coldest hollows, and most of us stayed in the 20s. Burlington, I think got down to 29 degrees. Montpelier was 25. Neither were record lows, and it was actually a tad warmer this morning than yesterday morning, which was the opposite of forecasts.

Many of the blooms outside our Vermont doors, because they're such early season specimens, will probably survive what we got last night.  Some things probably didn't make it, but overall, we will have spring after all.

Just not right away. Although it will turn "warmer" than yesterday - how could it possibly be any colder? -- temperatures will remain below normal into next week at least.

The good news is below normal ain't what it used to be.  Normal temperatures continue to rise fast this time of year.  Normal highs are in the mid 40s on April Fools Day and around 60 as the month ends.

Coming up over the next week, there will be a couple days here and there that get into the low and mid 50s. That's really not bad, but still a little on the cool side for late April.

HOW DRY I AM?

One thing I've noticed is, despite the rain showers and frequent unseasonable snows this month, it's a bit dry, particularly in northern Vermont. I noticed the gardens, when not frozen, are a bit dusty.

The dry conditions can raise the risk of brush fires this time of year. All that dead vegetation is dry out there. Sure, last year's leaves, weeds, twigs and such get wet whenever it rains or snows, but things dry out fast this time of year.

That's especially true in Aprils like this one in northern Vermont in which each precipitation event doesn't amount to much. It makes it easier to dry things out. It often get dry readily in Vermont anyway this time of year.   Here's why:

First of all, there's no leaves on the trees yet. That means the sun's heat can go down to the forest floor without being shaded by foliage. That allows things to dry out faster.

Also, when trees are leafed out, they add moisture to the air. There's no leaves yet.  If you make the air more humid, it makes it harder for fires to start and spread.

This time of year, pushes of air from Canada are particularly dry. These airmasses from the Great White North are cold, as we know from experience over the past couple of days.

The April sun is strong, though. That causes air pockets to warm and rise. Something has to replace that air that came up from near the surface, so really, really dry air from up above makes its way to the surface. These updrafts and downdrafts can create some erratic wind gusts, even when the overall weather pattern isn't that blustery.

Today will be a classic example. Temperatures will recover this afternoon well into the 40s.  That's still a good ten degrees cooler than normal, but it's better than yesterday, for sure. The air mass today is really dry, and will get drier as the afternoon sun mixes the air.

A great measure of how dry it is is by looking at the dewpoint temperature. Here's an example: If the actual air temperature is 45 degrees and the dew point is 25 degrees, that means it would have to cool down to 25 degrees to create fog or at least dew or frost on the grass.

The wider the spread between the actual temperature and the dew point, the drier the air is.  Today, a typical Vermont location will see afternoon temperatures of around 45 degrees with a dewpoint within a few degrees either side of zero.

That's super dry, and can easily create conditions to start brush fires. Luckily, we did have that bit of snow and rain yesterday and the day before, so that wetted things down just a little bit. Plus, although winds today might be erratic, they won't be particularly strong. That leaves us with some fire danger today, but not an extreme one.   The driest area seems to be the Champlain Valley.

So please, no outdoor burning today, or any other similarly dry days.  It can easily get out of hand and you don't want that.

It might turn a little wetter as we head into the weekend and next week, especially in southern Vermont, so that might help.

SOUTHERN TORNADO DRAMA

Screen shot of video by storm chaser Pecos Hank as a tornado rips through
the town of Madill, Oklahoma Wednesday.

More tornadoes ripped through the South again yesteraday and overnight.  Reports are that five people have died - three in Texas and two in Oklahoma.

A remarkable string of four tornadic supercell arranged themselves in a tight north to south line in southern Oklahoma during the afternoon and evening, producing some photogenic, but unfortunately destructive tornadoes.  

Click on this link to watch a very wild video by Pecos Hank as he sat pretty much in a tornado that rapidly developed in Madill, Oklahoma. You'll see it wrecking a steel wire plant there. The tornado then moves on, leaving wreckage and a beautiful, sunny late afternoon. (It was even sunny from Pecos Hank's position watching the tornado. Go figure.

An even more remarkable tornadic supercell formed near Austin, Texas and traveled nearly 450 miles to the Louisiana-Mississippi border Wednesday afternoon and evening. That is an incredibly long lasting, durable supercell, especially considering it kept dropping tornadoes along the way.

The worst one was in Unalaska, well north of Houston, where the supercell dropped a powerful tornado that led to three deaths and widespread destruction in town, according to television station KPRC in Houston.

Severe thunderstorms and possible tornadoes continued overnight and into this morning in parts of Mississippi and Alabama.

Another round of storms and possible tornadoes are in the forecast for later today, especially in the southern halves of Alabama and Georgia.

Spring Sprouts, Tornado Joggers and Googly Eyes. A Few Notes

Look very closely  and you can see daffodil shoots trying to
emerge from the soil next to the retreating ice on Thursday
in my St. Albans, Vermont gardens. 

It's been a relatively warm week for early March in Vermont. The snow is retreating the sap is running and it feels like spring might get here. Eventually.

True, it's going to be on the cold side tonight and Saturday and we surely have more cold spells and snowfalls to come. But we've made a little progress.

It's hard to see in the accompanying pboto, but I spotted such progress in my yard amid the Thursday afternoon sunshine.

Next to the retreating ice in one of my garden beds, the first hint of daffodil shoots appeared.  It's not much, but a guy looking forward to spring will take anything he can get.

I don't anticipate anything blooming until April.  Still, it was nice to see something green, however tiny, instead of the shades of white, gray, black and brown we've been limited to since November.

Daffodil shoots are tough, so I'm not too worried about what will happen in cold weather. Today, a  huge nor'easter that's developing well off the New England coast today but it will miss us. The storm will throw a brief shot of gusty winds and chilly air at us, but nothing odd for early March.  It'll warm up again Sunday afternoon.

Given that the weather is relatively quiet, here's a couple other odd, unrelated things I've noticed recently, including an odd jogger and a googly-eyed TV reporter in a snowstorm:

THE TORNADO JOGGER

As soon as those awful tornados in Tennessee passed early Tuesday, first responders, as always, swooped in and did their best to help.

This brief video is a little strange. It shows firefighters arriving in a tornado-battered Nashville neighborhood. The power was out, and you could see little in the darkness.  But in firetruck headlights and firefighters' head lamps, you could see downed power lines, glimpses of debris and hints of chaos.

As the firefighters started heading into the neighborhood, presumably to pull people from the wreckage, a female jogger zips on by.

No, she's not running from the wreckage. Nothing, not even a tornado, complete darkness, debris and possibly live downed wires is going to interrupt her odd 1:30 a.m. running routine.  I love the look on the face of the firefighter at the end of this brief video:



SNOWSTORM REPORTER'S MANY FACES

In late February, a snowfall hit Asheville, North Carolina,  Justin Hinton, a reporter for television station WLOS was out in the snow, giving a live update for viewers via Facebook Live.

He said he somehow activated some sort of Facebook filter and this is what viewers saw as Hinton gave his report.

Mid-February: When You Look For A Sign Winter Is Breaking. And It Has

Tuesday: The deep dark gloom of winter seemed like it would
never go away around my St. Albans, Vermont property

Much has been made about the mild winter across much of the United States, including here in Vermont.

However, here in the northern Vermont, this February has been a truly winter month.  Nothing extreme, mind you, but you know it's winter.  

Temperatures are running a little above normal so far this month, but we have also been making occasional excursions to below zero territory.  Snowfall is running a little above average, too.

Even though a lot of people like winter and want it to continue, I get a little ambivalent about it this time of year. There's certainly beauty in the white winter landscape. Dramatic, cold storms are fun for any weather geek.  Still, one often looks ahead, and so do I, toward spring.

Wednesday:  A chill north wind, but you could feel the warmth of the
February sun battling against winter. Photo was taken at 4:35 p.m.,
which would have been nighttime two months ago. 

Tuesday was dark, gloomy, wintry day in Vermont, I referred the weather then as the dog days of February.

 It was the kind of day when  you feel winter has been going on forever and it will never end. It snowed off and on. It was windy and raw. There was a thick blanket of snow and ice on the ground. It seemed a bit hopeless, frankly.

Wednesday was another day, and another attitude. If only in my imagination, the first crack in winter's grasp appeared to me on Wednesday, even if it was a wintry day by anybody's definition.

Now, I'm not saying winter is over, not by a long shot. Heck, it's going to be below zero tonight. And we will surely have our share of snowstorms, cold snaps, ice and winter chill to come in March and even in April.

But hear me out on what I felt yesterday was the first signs that this albeit tame winter is about to lose its grip.  It came when the snow lost its grip on my roof at 4:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Hopefully, in less than three months, my yard will look like this.

Temperatures rose Tuesday night to near 40 degrees. Enough to cause a little thawing. Just before temperatures starting crashing downward again, a couple hours before dawn,  the foot-thick layer of snow and ice covering our roof let go all at once.

The house roared and shook and swayed as all the snow and ice on both sides of the roof all slid off at once.  It was a wonder to behold, even if I had to shovel the compacted ice away from the front door so we could get outdoors.

During the mid-morning, another Arctic cold front tossed down a handful of snowflakes amid gusty northwest winds. Then the sky cleared.

Earlier in the winter, when the sun was at a weak, low angle, the temperature would have steadily dropped all day behind that cold front.  With the stronger mid-February sun, the temperature held stubbornly in the upper 20s, despite the north winds trying to drive the frigid air in.

The bottom line is, winter and spring battled it out Wednesday afternoon, and that battle ended in a draw, at least until the sun went down and the temperature would plummet.

Before it did so, the better, higher sun angle did one more favor. Our winter of mixed precipitation left a nearly two inch sold layer of ice on our driveway. Michelle Kwan could win another gold metal skating on it.

But the sun wore a small patch of bare pavement near where my truck was parked. The sun warmed the pavement, melting the ice around the bare patch.  I was actually able to expand the bare patch a bit.

With the strongest grasp of winter now broken, it now feels like we are entering the see-saw war between spring and winter.  Already, the subzero readings expected Thursday morning will give way to 40-degree temperatures by Sunday.

True to form, as we go through pretty much the entire month of March, we will see a few more below zero readings.  Just as in 2017 and 2018, it's possible we'll see the biggest snowstorm of the winter this year in March.  That's not a forecast, but who knows? It could happen.

However, the chances of mild, perhaps even sunny days keep increasing. Already, the normal temperature for today in Burlington is four degrees warmer than it was on February 1. Onward and upward!

The sun will keep strengthening, and the days will continue to get blissfully longer. The sun was still blasting down nicely at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.  In December, it would already have been dark.

The battle for spring will be won several weeks from now, and maybe I'll fulfill my winter long fantasy of getting back in the garden, smelling the gorgeous organic aroma of mud and new blooms, and seeing the landscape turn to that delicious spring green.

I'll need to be patient with this, but bring it on!


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Champlain Valley Frost Risk Tonight, Right On Schedule

Frost advisory in Vermont's Champlain Valley tonight. If we do
get the first frost of the season tonight, it'll come right
about on schedule. First frost is usually about now.

Right about now is when the first frost of the autumn hits much of Vermont's Champlain Valley, which is the state's banana belt anyway.

This area usually gets frost a little later than the rest of the state.

Sure enough, the first frost advisory of the season is up for this part of the state overnight tonight and early Saturday morning.

As is usually the case, the frost will be hit and miss, as temperatures here will be marginal for a frost or freeze.

If you live right along the immediate shore of Lake Champlain, I think you're safe. Anywhere else, all bets are off.

Remember, the temperature doesn't actually have to drop to 32 degrees to get a frost. We usually measure the temperature from thermometers placed about five feet above the ground. On clear, calm nights, like the one we're expecting tonight, the temperature can be, say, 35 degrees five feet off the ground, but a frosty 32 degrees down by your feet, where your garden is.

Which means this evening you should  cover up or take in any plants that you want to keep coaxing along. That's especially true this year, because if your flowers and veggies and stuff survive tonight, they'll keep going for quite awhile. A long period of warmer than normal frost-free temperatures will start Saturday afternoon.

Away from the Champlain Valley, a fair chunk of Vermont has already had a frost, which is also typical.

North-central Vermont, including Montpelier and Morrisville, is under a more strident freeze warning tonight, as temperatures there will be colder. Many places will go below 32 degrees.

There's no frost or freeze warnings in even colder areas of the region. The National Weather Service in South Burlington, as they do every year in October, have given up on issuing frost and freeze advisories for the colder sections of the region, like the Northeast Kingdom and the Adirondacks of New York.

Those areas have already had so many frost and freezes that pretty much everything in the garden is dead there. No point on issuing any advisories to people who can't use them.

With the frosts of fall now under way, the next thing to look forward to (or not) is snow. I still don't see any coming to Vermont anytime soon. If I had to guess based on unreliable long range forecasts, I'd say the first chance of any Vermont snowflakes, at least in the mountains, will come around October 15.

Sudden Spring: Generally Warm Outlook For Beginning Of May

Judging from this photo taken at 11 a.m. in  my St. Albans, Vermont
yard, I'm about to have daffodils any second now. 

Well, we finally made it to spring yesterday. Burlington's high temperature was 73 degrees, the first 70 degree reading of the year.

It was the warmest day in exactly six months, as October 24 was the last time it was warmer than yesterday.  

Burlington came close to 70  in February with a record-smashing 69 degrees, and other weather stations in Vermont did pass 70 degrees in February, but as we know all too well, that wasn't really spring.

This, right now,  is really spring. My lawn in two days went from brown to could use a mowing in spots. Trees are budding. My many daffodils, which spent the last month struggling against winter cold and snow, are finally growing like gangbusters and are just about to burst into brilliant yellows and other colors.

Finally!

The outlook for the next 10 days or more is generally very springlike, too!  Temperatures will be near normal today through Saturday -- highs in the 50s and low 60s which is warm enough to keep the plants growing and happy. We will be dodging occasional rain and showers through that period. That's OK. You know what they say about April showers. And for once these aren't snow showers

We get into a brief cool down later Saturday, through Sunday into Monday. Temperatures on Sunday will be especially chilly with highs in the 40s to around 50 with a brisk north wind. That's cool for this time of year, but nothing extreme.

It'll start to warm up on Monday, and at this point most of next week looks quite warm. Of course forecasts could change, but it looks like Vermont will be in the 70s most days next Tuesday through perhaps Friday. We could even see some summerlike 80 degree readings. Definitely not out of the question.

So if you think things are greening up now, just wait until the end of next week!

Inevitably,  there's always a complication. Around May 7 or 8 or so, it looks like at least a brief flip toward cold weather, though of course I don't trust forcasts that far into the future much at all.

I especially hope the American computer forecasting model is wrong - it usually is this far out. But for what it's worth, it forecasts a day or two of pretty much winter cold with maybe a bit of snow and temperatures far below freezing.

That would wreck our welcome emergence into spring by pretty much killing everything that will be growing out there. For now, I wouldn't worry too much about that as that cold prediction is almost surely overblown

For now, enjoy the way everything is greening up!

Incredibly Warm Autumn Creates Unheard Of November Vermont Gardens

Once again, we're waking up to incredibly warm autumn weather here in Vermont, just as we consistently have all season.

The end is nigh, at least temporarily, as we are in for a week of seasonable November weather. That means highs in the 30s and 40s lows in the 20s Tuesday through next Sunday, with maybe some snow Thursday night and Friday.

That kind of weather is perfectly normal in a Vermont November, but it will feel abnormal because of the warmth we had.

We've come off the hottest October on record, by far, and one of the hottest Septembers. The first week of November was well above normal. Totally unprecedented for these parts.

Which makes putting my gardens to bed weird, since things were still going in early November. This in a location so far into northern Vermont that I can literally see Canada from my house.

Until last year, I never picked an edible tomato from a Vermont garden in October. This year, I picked on in early November. No frost protection, no nothing.

I ate salad greens from the garden yesterday. My zinnias are hanging in there. And a patch of hyacinth near the shed, which usually blooms in early spring, is attempting to blossom.

Meanwhile, it's supposed to be stick season. All the leaves should be off the trees in Vermont by now. Most of them are, but there are still flashes of color as we begin the second week of November.

Lots of people have asked me if this warm autumn will have any influence on what kind of winter we will have. The answer is probably not.

Despite the variety of long range forecasts you hear, it's really impossible to tell precisely what kind of winter we'll have. Will the other shoe drop? After all, no good weather in Vermont goes unpunished, so that would bring us intense cold and snow.

On the other hand, winters are not the same as they used to be, thanks in large part to global warming. Will this be another mild winter? Could be.

Frost Advisory In Vermont's Champlain Valley

There's a frost advisory tonight in Vermont's Champlain Valley
Most perennials will be fine, but if you put sensitive plants
outdoors too early, you might have problems. 

This is kind of a late post, but if you do read this, there's a frost advisory up for Vermont's Champlain Valley tonight.

This is not a weird situation for early May in Vermont, but it's worth noting.

You probably noticed today was cloudy and chilly, but it cleared up in the evening. That sets the stage for a frost. A clear sky when the temperature starts out cold means it's really easy for temperatures to fall into frost territory.

For most of us, including gardeners, we shouldn't really worry about this too much.

If your early perennials are blooming - things like daffodils, hyancith, forsythia - don't worry about them. They'll be fine. These plants are equipped to handle weather like this at this time of year.

Also, don't worry about the trees that are starting to leaf out. The tender new leaves can survive a couple hours below freezing. They'll be fine, too.

Vermont's apple crop is probably OK, too. The apple trees haven't totally bloomed yet in the Champlain Valley. And even where they have, the chill won't be long lasting or severe enough to cause much damage.

If you left sensitive plants outside to harden up for the spring. I'm talking about things like tomatoes and that kind of thing, definitely deal with this.  If you're reading this Wednesday evening, bring them in NOW. Right this minute.  If not, they'll probably die.

If you were foolish enough to plant sensitive plants in your garden like tomatoes in a way you can't bring them inside, you're screwed. Most people didn't do this. Don't put stuff like this in your garden until Memorial Day.

If you jumped the gun, encouraged by a couple warm days in April, those sensitive plants will probably die You can try covering them up, but they might or might not survive.

You'll notice the frost advisory is only in effect for the Champlain Valley. The National Weather Service only issue frost advisories in areas where the growing season has begun.

Right now is about the time where we typically get the last frost of the season in the Champlain Valley. Hence the advisory for tonight.

Away from the Champlain Valley, the typical first frost of the season comes later. The growing season  hasn't started yet. So, they haven't started issuing frost advisories or warnings yet. But the rules of thumb I outlined above still apply.

One more note: We are about to enter a long spell of cool, damp, cloudy weather. Outdoor plants won't grow or thrive much under these conditions. So if your outdoor plants don't seem to be doing well, relax.

Any frost we get tonight probably won't hurt them. The plants won't do much while it's cloudy and cool, but they'll survive. When the weather eventually turns sunny and warmer, they'll  be fine.  Just be patient, and they'll spring back to life once we get some warm spring weather

Scenes From A Vermont Spring Snow

Snow falls on gardens in Burlington, Vermont's
Intervale Tuesday morning. 

Tuesday was quite the spring day in Vermont wasn't it?

April showers bring May flowers. But snow? Well, we needed the moisture I suppose. But I much prefer the rain showers, thank you.

A general one to three inches of snow fell over most of central and northern Vermont, and adjacent areas of New York and New Hampshire.

The 2.1 inches of snow that fell on Burlington was a record for the date. Of course, it doesn't usually snow much late in the season, so the old record was a paltry 0.6 inches.

Tuesday's snow also tied for the fourth snowiest day of the entire winter season in Burlington, if you consider running from autumn through spring.

Since we basically had a year without a winter, it stands to reason I guess we have a year without a spring. Just semi-winter going on and on.

Daffodils battered by Tuesday's snow in
Burlington, Vermont.  

Toward evening yesterday, I found myself saying. "Enough snow melted by late this afternoon that I was able to get a little work done in my garden.

Not something you want to say just days befor the start of May.

Still, it has been dry, and as I said the moisture from the snow helped. It wasn't a tremendous amount of "white rain" but what the heck.

I'm trying to do the glass half full thing here.

No more snow is in the forecast, but cold weather sure is. It was generally in the 20s regionwide this morning, with a few upper teens in the cold spots.

A few towns in the North Country never made it out of the 30s Tuesday. Today, most places will be in the 40s, which is an improvement of sorts. Though it's supposed to be in the low 60s this time of year.

Lilac buds catch snow in Burlington, Vermont Tuesday 

Tonight will be as cold as last night, maybe even a little worse, with clear skies and calm winds expected.

That's not going to help the perennials struggling with this chilly weather, is it?

This is the first spring I can recall that daffodils have been damaged by cold. It looks like I'll have far fewer blooms this spring that I expected.

And will I get lilacs?  What about the apple orchards? We'll wait and see how they do.

By late afternoon, the snow had melted off my gardens
in St. Albans, Vermont but these flowers
faced three nights of hard freezes. Would they survive?  

Thursday, the cold lingers with highs in the 40s to low 50s, and another hard freeze Thursday night.

It'll warm up some by Friday and the weekend, but temperatures will remain a little cooler than normal.

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!

Frigid Night To Finish Off Anything Left Growing In The Garden

Some of the warmer corners of Vermont and surrounding Northeastern states have barely had a frost and freeze this month so far.

 

Cosmos in my St. Albans,  Vermont garden started off slow
and finally reached their peak by today, October 28.
But they'll be dead by morning as temperatures drop
to near 20 degrees  

In Vermont's Champlain Valley, temperatures have gotten to near 32 degrees a couple nights in the past week, but it hasn't been super cold. Some plants in gardens are hanging in there.

Or at least were. Monday night will be the moment when virtually everything in the gardens will get wiped out.

It will be damn cold. Not record cold, but cold enough. Unless you're right along the shore of Lake Champlain, it will get into the mid 20s.

Most places will be in the low 20s by Tuesday morning. Many valley locations in Vermont and northern New York will be well down into the teens.

It's really not worth covering things up. They pretty much won't make it anyway. (Root crops in the gardens will be fine, though)

Kiss those hardy flowers goodbye, folks.

It's been a long growing season, so I can't complain. And a cold night like tonight's forecast chill is coming about on schedule for northern New England.

Still, a part of me can't wait for things to start greening up in the spring again.

It's going to be a long, long wait.