Air/Ground frost threat

[mezzacyclone]

Theirs banter on the May/General chat board but I'm requesting specific views on frost threat?

I brought out all the tropical garden palms (mixed - some not hardy) prior to the mini heatwave of late, (with a cautious eye on something similar to whats possible tonight), so any thoughts on your locations possibility of it would be welcome :lol:

Max of 4'C tonight for my area according to GFS etc. but how low? My bedding plants are more vulnerable being in closer proximity to ground level but its my palms in large terracota pots that i'm dubious of?

sheltered southerly facing location but still considering draping sheeting over them all,,,,?

Any thoughts "palm pickers" ?

[jethro]

Theirs banter on the May/General chat board but I'm requesting specific views on frost threat?

I brought out all the tropical garden palms (mixed - some not hardy) prior to the mini heatwave of late, (with a cautious eye on something similar to whats possible tonight), so any thoughts on your locations possibility of it would be welcome :lol:

Max of 4'C tonight for my area according to GFS etc. but how low? My bedding plants are more vulnerable being in closer proximity to ground level but its my palms in large terracota pots that i'm dubious of?

sheltered southerly facing location but still considering draping sheeting over them all,,,,?

Any thoughts "palm pickers" ?

Better be safe than sorry - drape em. In all likelihood they've been grown in hothouses, hardened off prior to going out to garden centres but more than likely, haven't faced any real cold so far. Tender ones get frost burnt really quite easily, more so when young; play it safe.

[Zenarcher]

The lowest temperatures below and the last one shows the ground temperature for tonight.

[damianslaw]

The lowest temperatures below and the last one shows the ground temperature for tonight.

Looks like the central highlands have a high chance of recording an air frost on any of the next 4 nights I say, perhaps less so this evening, but the risk will be high for tomorrow night.

Not expecting any parts of England to record a ground frost this evening, temperatures will be very marginal as I think their may be just too much cloud cover from time to time.

However, tomorrow night sees the risk increase, I'm expecting the usual suspects i.e. Spadeadam, Redesdale Camp, Shap Fell to record a ground frost with lows nearing 0, this likely for monday and tuesday with general areas in central, north and east cumbria, northumberland away from the coast, west county durham, north yorkshire away from the coast and perhaps as far south as west yorkshire seeing lows of 2-3 for sunday, monday and tuesday night, some spots prone to frost will be lower here.

[J07]

Theirs banter on the May/General chat board but I'm requesting specific views on frost threat?

I brought out all the tropical garden palms (mixed - some not hardy) prior to the mini heatwave of late, (with a cautious eye on something similar to whats possible tonight), so any thoughts on your locations possibility of it would be welcome

Max of 4'C tonight for my area according to GFS etc. but how low? My bedding plants are more vulnerable being in closer proximity to ground level but its my palms in large terracota pots that i'm dubious of?

sheltered southerly facing location but still considering draping sheeting over them all,,,,?

Any thoughts "palm pickers" ?

What palms do you have?

[Tucco]

Looks like the central highlands have a high chance of recording an air frost on any of the next 4 nights I say, perhaps less so this evening, but the risk will be high for tomorrow night.

Not expecting any parts of England to record a ground frost this evening, temperatures will be very marginal as I think their may be just too much cloud cover from time to time.

However, tomorrow night sees the risk increase, I'm expecting the usual suspects i.e. Spadeadam, Redesdale Camp, Shap Fell to record a ground frost with lows nearing 0, this likely for monday and tuesday with general areas in central, north and east cumbria, northumberland away from the coast, west county durham, north yorkshire away from the coast and perhaps as far south as west yorkshire seeing lows of 2-3 for sunday, monday and tuesday night, some spots prone to frost will be lower here.

Shap down -1.8C at 0400, a few places wth an air frost with fairly widespread ground frost in N England. Looks to colder still tonight.

Mark

Teesdale,Co Durham

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Blimey!

0.2C here at 5am. My poor garden.

[SP1986]

Your palms will be fine, they wont mind a short dib of frost at this time of year when the sun can recover its strength rather quickly at this time of year, its just when it gets into winter and the frost time is significantly higher and is not always offset by the very weak sun. I planted a tropical Azalea in winter and its come through fine.

[J07]

I still think that when it comes to frost you're playing with fire in the case of palms. They're obviously not adapted to handle stuff like that, it's entirely un-natural. But Stephen knows a lot more about successfully "pushing the limits" of plants than I do!

Certainly it's safer to expose palms to a touch of frost than it is to have, say, your tomatoes hit by frost. Or grapes, if you grow them. The fruit of tomatoes cannot really handle temperatures below 10C without suffering somewhat, so a frost would pretty much ruin them.

I guess if palms get hit, they can bounce back....usually.

I did once consider growing Lemons in the UK. I was sure it could work, but that spell of grey, miserable cold in December 2007 was so long and insufferable that it kind of ended my plans. I'm not sure how Lemons would cope with such conditions. It's great to walk into the garden and pick lemons.

For those of you fond of subtropicals, try and get hold of something called a Feijoa, also known as Pineapple Guava. It's a beautiful small shrub, originally from the Brazilian highlands. It has become something of a favourite in New Zealand and is now considered traditional. It has fruited in Switzerland in the distant past. I am sure it could fruit in the UK, and being a highlander, it can tolerate frost with relative ease.

Tamarillos are another cracker, one of the most beautiful fruit I've ever eaten, but I think to grow them in the UK would not succeed unfortunately.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Blimey!

0.2C here at 5am. My poor garden.

A balmy 1.22c at 04:13am today :o :o

The poor Hornbeams we planted yesterday will have had a shock !!

[johnholmes]

according to Wx Online 11 places recorded an air frost last night, not all being high level stations, most in Scotland with a couple in the far north of England

for ground frosts, the number rises to 52 with stations well south involved.

Edited May 19, 2008 by johnholmes

[Osbourne One-Nil]

Dropped to -1.1C here last night, making it the 55th air frost since September.

[grab my graupel]

Yes I certainly had an air frost here, not sure of the exact temps, but when I looked out of my window

early this morning I disovered my car was all white. :o

[johnholmes]

more probably a ground frost Brian

not seen anywhere else in your area recording an air frost

[grab my graupel]

more probably a ground frost Brian

not seen anywhere else in your area recording an air frost

Yes Thanks John. I think you are probably right.

It was still a chilly night though, and quite a change to what I have become used to recently.

[damianslaw]

I think tonight will be colder still for the far north of England. Parts of north pennine valleys and east cumbria could well hit -2 degrees, Shap Fell being probably best positioned. Whilst not record breaking by any stretch these are still quite notable figures particularly as we have had 2 nights with air frost already, with tomorrow night also looking like delivering at least a ground frost to the same areas, that will be 4 nights of air frost so quite cold May spell really.

[SnowBear]

Are we looking at a frost for Essex tonight?

Wondering whether to fleece up the beans and toms lol

[J07]

Are we looking at a frost for Essex tonight?

Wondering whether to fleece up the beans and toms lol

I personally would fleece them up for sure.

Do you have fruit on the tomatoes? If so, I'd be pretty concerned about getting several cold nights in a row.

[Rustynailer]

Ground frost in sheltered parts of some fields here last night

[johnholmes]

touch of ground frost here in the early hours and the list of stations with a ground frost at 0700 showed at 40

[Osbourne One-Nil]

0.0C here last night. I'm not sure if that's an air frost or not.

[johnholmes]

nope afraid not old chap, has to be <0.0C

[Greyowl]

We had frost on the car windows and the sheds. I put all the tender plants in the greenhouse luckily.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

nope afraid not old chap, has to be <0.0C

I reckon it rounded it up to 0.0C though....it was really -0.04C probably.

[stewfox]

nope afraid not old chap, has to be <0.0C

Ok why does it have to below freezing to be a air frost and not just 0c ?