Today's weather story on the NWS St. Louis site resembles a mid-January story. A strong low pressure system passed through Missouri yesterday, and pulled some cold air behind it. We had our second bout of snow showers this spring last night. Nothing stuck to the ground, so officially I reported a trace for today's report.
A freeze warning has been issued for our area southern Missouri. A teacher I work with is expecting to loose her Apricot and Peach crop over the next two nights. Thankfully, her apples have not bloomed yet, so there is no danger with them yet.
Freeze Warning as stated from NWS STL:
AN UNSEASONABLY COLD AIRMASS WILL DOMINATE THE MID MISSISSIPPI VALLEY REGION UNTIL MID WEEK. AFTER ONE BOUT OF TEMPERATURES FALLING BELOW FREEZING THIS MORNING...LOOK FOR LOW TEMPERATURES IN THE MID TO UPPER 20S FOR SEVERAL HOURS ON MONDAY NIGHT AND EARLY TUESDAY WHICH MAY CAUSE A MORE WIDESPREAD HARD OR KILLING FREEZE ON TENDER VEGETATION.
THE COLD AIRMASS WILL BEGIN TO SLOWLY PULL AWAY FROM THE AREA ON TUESDAY NIGHT...BUT SKIES ARE EXPECTED TO BE CLEAR AND THE WINDS WILL BE RELATIVELY LIGHT. LOWS ARE STILL EXPECTED TO BE IN THE LOWER 30S...SO THE FREEZE WATCH REMAINS IN EFFECT.
7 comments:
WxWatcher, curious. How often does this happen? I'd guess that it doesn't happen every year. That is unfortunate about the Peach tree. Our neighbor has a Peach tree and this year is the year for Peaches! Weird that they only produce fruit every other year, right?!
OSNW3, a couple of years ago this happened a little later in the year and killed a lot of grape crops in the area. There are some families who completely depend on their grapes and sell them to the wineries around here (as well as set up on the side of I-44 and sell them to travelers). They are very yummy!! It is unfortunate, though. Kinda hard to "cover up" a tree or entire crop to protect them from the weather.
I'm not sure how often this happens, but as Ami says, we had quite a harmful freeze in 2007. Personally, I don't remember having as much freezing weather during April as we have in the past few years.
Ami, I agree it is unfortunate and impossible to cover a crop of trees. I do not doubt that the grapes are yummy... hopefully it doesn't get as cold as they're predicting! Will your rain gauge be apart of the CoCoRaHS network?
WxWatcher, so you're saying it has been cold the past couple Aprils? Perhaps it does happen every year. It's early April, yet... probably more unlikely to happen later in the month.
Definitely much more unlikely the further along in April we go. Looking at the climatology of the area (Columbia), there has been at or below freezing temps during each day of the month, so even a late April killing freeze is possible...On April 30, 1908 it dropped to 28°! With farming being so important around here, I'll bet that was devastating.
As for me...I'm ready to say goodbye to my winter coat, go for a run before the sun goes up, and sit outside with my wife at night drinking coffee.
WxWatcher, man I love that page. I wish GRB put something like that out. Or do they? I can't find it.
Update on the freeze?!
OSNW3, it wasn't as bad as it could have been! In fact, some stations didn't even get below freezing! I'm writing an entry today to show temps around the area.
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