INDIANAPOLIS — It is feeling a lot more like fall to end the week. It got cold enough (mid 30s) in some spots to prompt a frost advisory. That has been dropped at this point, but here is a look at the advisories for that were in place for Thursday morning.
This is a bit ahead of schedule. I went through the data to find out when central Indiana typically sees a frost, freeze, and hard freeze. Three categories that are defined by different temperatures. Frost is possible when temperature dip into the mid 30s. This is because the temperature is taken about six feet off the ground. It will actually end up a bit cooler right at ground level. A freeze takes place at 32° - that makes sense. A hard freeze (where the cold actually gets deeper into the ground) happens at 28°.
Now that we know the difference here are the dates that we average this temperatures for the first time in the fall.
For a 30 year historical average, Indy's airport gets to 36° around October 17th. That hasn't happened so far this season. Our coldest temperature (at the time of writing this on October 9th) was 47°. That means we still have a chance to cool down in time.
Our first average freeze happens on October 26th. Last year we didn't hit that mark until November 22nd (way behind schedule).
Our first hard Freeze is typically November 5th.
We will get another shot of cold air Friday morning (10-10), but it likely won't be cold enough to hit these mark in Indianapolis. Surrounding, more rural areas, certainly could get into the mid to low 30s.
That means you still have some times with outside plants. Especially more hardy ones. This also means we will keep some bugs around, for now.
