The earliest 28° frost/freeze where we live can occur any time between late August to late September. Last Friday, the National Weather Service warned us that a killing freeze/frost could occur Monday and Tuesday nights, September 7 and 8. That is pretty early, and all the signs were indicative of this calamity.
On Sunday, Husband and I harvested all the chard, green and red New Mexico peppers, red sweet peppers, and any tomato that showed any inclination of ripening indoors. (Tomatoes that have been subjected to a frost when they are still on the vine should not be canned. It produces some enzyme that is contrary to safe canning.) That meant a trip to several local liquor stores to get boxes for ripening tomatoes, as well as a search for canning jars. (There are no canning jars to be had in our town now, as everyone was scrambling to save their garden produce, too. )
We spent Monday figuring out how to maximize the canning jars and lids we still had, and to cook up a couple dozen chili peppers for enchilada sauce. We covered bean poles with comforters and blankets, and also covered pepper plants and cantelopes with old table cloths and a large tarp. So much for a restful Labor Day Weekend.
Tuesday morning dawned with frost covered roofs and droopy tomato plants. Similar cold temperatures are predicted for Tuesday evening, so we will leave everything covered until Wednesday. By then, warmer evening temperatures are predicted.
When has the weather changed your plans?
Trail Baboon 
Rarely but mostly concerning work.
An inch of snow here in southwestern Ohio blows up traffic spectacularly. Better to stay home than to let my Minnesota prideful driving ego take the wheel. “It’s not me, it’s THEM!”
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The year we lived in Southern Indiana was an eye opener regarding the power of an inch of snow to close everything down.
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Agreed. I remember coming back from college once to St. Louis for break and being surprised that an inch of snow basically shut down the city.
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i was in the san bernardino mountains in a snowstorm that dropped 5 feet in 24 hours. there’s nowhere to go when there an additional 4 or 5 feet everywhere you go
i ended up hitchhiking down the mountain and going back for the vw van after it blew over
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it blew over?
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Well, this morning for one – no t’ai chi at the Levee as it’s raining off and on… also a tad too cool for my taste, but I may have to be a little heartier to keep these things going for a while.
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Too many times to count. Rained out my golf game this afternoon.
My biggie was perhaps getting caught up in the BWCAW during the massive flood of 2012 that washed out parts of Hwy 61 and I-35 and made a mess of Duluth and other N. Shore towns. Had about a 5-day trip planned but decided since my gear was already wet and I was already wet paddling and portaging during the worst part of the rain that going on and setting up camp in the rain with everything wet–by myself–was not prudent. Hypothermia doesn’t care how stupid you are.
And of course, here in MN, we’re all susceptible to delays from blizzards that can be merciless. One of the nice parts about being mostly retired is not being forced to travel in bad weather most of the time. 🙂
Chris in Owatonna
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Ooh, I guess northern Minnesota got this freeze, too. Yikes!
Thanks for the tip about the tomatoes, Renee.
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One of my best friends was getting married in Duluth at the end of January. A big snowstorm (that included most of the state) started the night before her wedding and by morning pretty much everything was shut down. Those of us here in the Cities, including her Matron of Honor, organist, and others helping with the reception were stranded – freeways clogged, no bus service, no train. A local friend of the bride stepped in for the Matron of Honor. There was no music at all. A few brave souls did make to to the church – some with their own vehicles, some picked up by snowmobile. I believe the florist made it and perhaps the photographer. Their reception, which was at a restaurant along the North Shore, was postponed for two weeks. Instead some local friends found a bakery still open so they could buy a cake and then they had a small reception at a local restaurant. The groom’s reaction was; “Well, this is what happens when you overplan”. I think late January wasn’t the best time to plan a wedding in Duluth in the first place. BTW, 39 years later they are still happily married.
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Fun story!
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New Year’s Eve of my senior college year, home with the folks in Marshalltown, but I had been TOLD Boyfriend was driving in from Pierre, SD. When I finally called him, he said the weather looked really iffy (I think he actually forgot) – at any rate, he cancelled. I then decided to drive to Des Moines (usually an hour’s drive) to my best friend’s party, even though it was a pretty good snowstorm. Hit a sheet of ice and went into a (shallow) ditch before I got out of town, and my dad was able to pull me out with the other car. AND I STILL DROVE TO D.M., but I was much more careful the rest of the way. In retrospect, I’m glad I did, that party was memorable.
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Daughter in Tacoma has been advised to have a bag packed in case she has to evacuate due to fires. They are 18 miles south of her right now. It is unlikely rhe fires will reach her area, but they want people to be prepared.
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A co-worker and I were supposed to attend a NICU Nursing Conference at DisneyWorld in September – can’t remember what year. But Hurricane Floyd decided to show up so the conference was rescheduled for December. Cathy and I still went – was fun to see the Christmas decorations. And the weather was much nicer.
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Lots of farming plans changed by the weather. I won’t even go into it.
I’m reading diary’s my Grandmother kept between 1950 – 1978.
It’s amazing how much they traveled, just around the neighborhood; every day they visited someone or someone came over. Mostly just to family, but also friends.
Even in winter she’d talk about the blizzard that came in and they stayed home. But the snow plows were out early and the next day they went to a meeting in town. Icy, heavy fog, “Roads were bad, had to drive slow”. From Rochester they’d go to Lacrosse, Austin, Winona.
Seems like in the 50’s that would have been a bigger deal.
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The advice about covering your tender plants always brings to mind the book Farmer Boy, where they have an unexpected frost and the family goes out before dawn to water the crops before the sun comes up. I did a little reading about this, and apparently it can work. Sprinkling your plants the night before can prevent frost from forming on the leaves, and if you do get frosted leaves, you can spray water on the leaves before the sun hits them.
I have sheets over my annuals tonight.
Weather changes my plans more often than it does for most people. Since I work outdoors a lot, I’m always trying to plan around the rain and the heat, moving workdays to the nicest weather and scheduling days off when it’s looking unpleasant.
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try this with cornia
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Many years ago I was coming back from California (with my new puppy Tristan) and the morning of our flight there were Santa Ana winds there. I had heard of these of course but certainly never experienced them. Luckily I was staying with the woman who had brought the puppies and she knew her way around the city. This was good because four times during our trip from her house to the airport something happened due to the winds,( a semi truck blowing over, a power line coming down) that blocked our route. I was late to the airport but thankfully the flight was also late so we were able to get on board in time. If I’ve been in a rental car on my own, I would never have made it.
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