Northeasterner: I sure hope you haven’t packed up those sweaters. Thanks to a strong cold front, current temperatures across the region are about 10 to 20 degrees lower than average.

With a range from the mid-50s in Northeast Pennsylvania to the mid-30s across inland Maine, it is (in my opinion) too cold for May.

High pressure will form in the area as we travel into the evening and overnight hours. Large-scale subsidence will result in calm conditions and clear skies overnight.

With no cloud cover to trap and re-radiate any meager daytime warming occurring today, heat from the surface would be free to escape into the atmosphere, which would allow temperatures to drop significantly overnight. You may have heard this called “radiative cooling”.

Temperatures will drop to near or below freezing under clear skies. Widespread record lows are well within the realm of possibility as well as severe freezing for some of the colder locations.

When the temperature is not cold enough for long enough to cause a hard freeze, the wind calm to almost calm on the surface may allow frost to form.

Since we are in the growing season, take measures to protect any sensitive vegetation you may have. Bring plants in if possible. If not, cover them with sheets, blankets, tarps, etc. Covering them with an inverted bucket, basket or cooler is also an option.

Fortunately, these popular lows near/below freezing lasted only overnight.

Overnight temperatures will be warm throughout the rest of the week.

However, do not let your guard down. We’ll have to watch carefully early next week as a weekend cold front could open up another cold air. Could it be another chance when frost or freeze is widespread? We will see how the forecast develops in the coming days.

About the author

Meghan Gulledge

Meteorologist – ’22 Mississippi State Writer for Weather.us and Weathermodels.com. Focus on weather communication. BoyMom x1, CatMom ​​x5. Twitter: @MegGulledgeWX