Better keep an eye on your weather! It's not fair, getting a freeze this time of year. I've had to go and get a ton of potted plants off the garden and put them in the carport shed--luckily, they ARE in pots and I can move them under shelter. Unfortunately, the tomatoes are in the ground but I wrapped them in big bubble wrap and, when it stops raining, will throw an old quilt over them too. Anybody know if gladiolus are frost tender?

There was also a mention of wet snow. . .

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001

Answers

Intellicast Radar, showing rain, sleet and snow Click on area for close-up.

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001

Git, I'm not sure about Glads, but I was wondering if it was feasible for you to consider 'fire pots' around the garden. That may hold of the freezing a bit....

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001

Not around here--they'd have me arrested for paganism or something. Too late anyway, we've got snow mixed with rain. And thunder. Bloody cold, had to turn the central heat back on. Brrrr!

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001

Here in Western PA we are in for a deep freeze tonight. All of my Peach and Plum trees have been in bloom for the last week. Today and this evening we have been having thundersnow. Very strange weather with temperatures rising from the low 20s to the upper 80s and back to the low 20s in one week. I'm beginning to wonder if we are going to have only two seasons this year....July and Winter. ;- )

-- Anonymous, April 17, 2001

WRAL-TV - Wednesday April 18, 2001 01:45 AM Arctic Air Mass Drops Dose of Cold Reality on North Carolina Spring

An Arctic air mass gave North Carolina's tranquil early spring the cold shoulder, blanketing the mountains with snow, spawning reports of tornadoes along the coast and leaving farmers worried about their young crops.

``I thought to myself, 'Is this April or is it January?' '' said Sophia Stanley, a waitress at The Thyme Table restaurant in Durham, where light snow fell Tuesday afternoon.

Farther west, accumulations in the mountains ranged from 2 inches in Wilkes and Alleghany counties to as much as 5 inches in Ashe and Watauga.

``It was snowing so hard for a while that you couldn't see a thing,'' said Kevin Bounds, Wilkes County's fire marshal.

Snow also fell as far east as Harnett County, and along the Virginia border.

Snow wasn't the only thing that fell. Lows Tuesday night plunged into the low 30s, with even colder temperatures expected Wednesday night. A freeze warning was issued for the foothills and Piedmont, with lows Wednesday night and Thursday morning expected to dip into the upper 20s and lower 30s.

Garrett Johnson, whose family farm in Montgomery County has about 10,000 peach trees on 50 acres, plus five acres of watermelons and cantaloupes, placed pots over the melons on Tuesday to protect them. He was also prepared to turn on five wind machines to mix up the air and keep a frost from settling in.

Sampson County farmer Tracy Pope took pains to protect his young eggplant, bell pepper, zucchini and cucumber plants. He coated the plants with a substance that seals their pores and cut down the rye grasses he had planted as a wind break for the plants.

``In the event of frost, if you don't have any air movement, you get cold pockets,'' Pope said. Mowing ``leaves us naked for wind protection, but we might get a better chance of frost protection.''

Sampson County horticultural agent Allan Thornton of the N.C. Cooperative Extension Service said every farmer with produce in the ground is worried about it freezing.

Thornton said 85 percent of the field corn crop is already growing, as is about 50 percent of the sweet corn crop. Most of the pepper plants, cucumbers and squash have been planted as well.

Farmers who grow strawberries, apples, peaches and blueberries were the most concerned because some varieties of those fruits are in bloom.

It will be a few days before farmers can assess the damage, said Ross Williams, assistant director for marketing for the state Department of Agriculture & Consumer Services.

In Carteret County, tornadoes reportedly touched down in Morehead City and Beaufort shortly after 4 p.m. Tuesday, according to the National Weather Service. Four waterspouts were also sighted, but none came inland.

Jim Ferrell, a meteorologist with the NWS, said wind gusts of up to 70 mph were associated with the storm.

No serious injuries were reported, but as many as 3,000 CP&L customers in the Morehead City area lost electricity. Some remained in the dark until after 9 p.m.

In Charlotte, police said a man was killed in his driveway when a tree fell on his parked car, but it wasn't clear if high winds in the area caused the tree to fall. Police were still investigating the accident Tuesday evening and had not released the man's name.

The strange weather came less than a week after record high temperatures were set in North Carolina.

``Last week we was working, and I got sunburned. I still got traces of it,'' Asheville street maintenance worker Lee Cahoon said Tuesday as snow swirled around him. ``Now this week we're wrapped up in everything we can find.''

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2001

". I'm beginning to wonder if we are going to have only two seasons this year....July and Winter"

Don't forget Mud Season!

-- Anonymous, April 18, 2001