What a change one day can make.  Yesterday it was in the 80s (with humidity to boot!) this afternoon we are holding in the low 50s. This cooler air is part of a chilly air mass building south out of Canada.  With clear skies and diminishing winds we should set up for ideal radiational cooling.  One thing to keep an eye on this evening is the dewpoint.  We are near 40 degrees as of 6 PM and there are lower dewpoint to our north, even 20s just north of Lake Ontario.  What the dewpoint ends up at later this evening should give us a clearer picture of how cold we might get. Under ideal conditions at night we typically drop close to the dew point.

The National Weather Service out of Binghamton just issued a frost advisory for much of central New York. It covers the coldest part of the night from 4 AM-8 AM. Right now we are thinking 37 or 38 in Syracuse and maybe a little cooler in the in the immediate suburbs. We think best chance for frost in Onondaga County would come across the southern part of the county where there are some deeper valleys that allow the cold air to drain to the bottom.  Elsewhere across central New York if you live away from a larger village or body of water you are at risk for some frost late tonight.

If you want to protect your plants tonight and you can move them you should bring them closer to your house or into the garage if you can.  Anything that is already in the ground make sure you cover. One other thing: I'm not a gardening expert but I've been told that for some plants the threshold for damage is higher than 32 degrees. For those more sensitive plants (I believe peppers and tomatoes are two examples) even in the immediate Syracuse area covering them tonight is probably a good idea.

Tomorrow night we are thinking the frost threat is a little less as the wind may be up just a bit more.

I'll try to update you on some temperatures later in the evening.

Jim