Below Zero - An October First

I've had my weather station since 2010 and during that time it's never recorded a temperature below 0°C or 32°F in October. It's been close on a couple of occasions, 0.2°C (32.4°F) on 25 October 2010 the nearest to freezing, then 0.6°C and 0.7°C recorded earlier this month or 33.1°F and 33.3°F if you prefer.

Those lowest October figures have now been reduced by quite a margin as the overnight low into Monday morning was -1.5°C (29.3°F) our first below zero temperature I've recorded in October since 2010.

Temperature Records for 29 October 2018

Gardening folk law reckons that our parsnips should now be okay to dig as a frost should make them sweeter but at what cost to our carrots. We are planning to cover our carrots with straw to protect them from any frost and normally we would be okay for a week or so based on past frost dates. Last night's temperature moves our first frost date from the middle of November to the end of October. We'd better get some straw and cover our carrots and hope that this morning's frost hasn't done too much damage.

Copyright: Original post from A Gardener's Weather Diary http://ossettweather.blogspot.co.uk/ author M Garrett