"The Morning Call Inc., Copyright 2002"
Date: Wednesday, September 19, 1990
RECORD COLD SNAP CAUSES KILLING FROST IN PARTS OF VALLEY The Morning Call
There is a reason your feet get cold standing at football games on cold autumn nights -- and it
doesn't necessarily have anything to do with feet being at the far end of the circulatory
system. Because cold air is heavier than warm air, it settles to the ground, according
to Charles Giannetta, meteorologist with the National Weather Service. That would explain why
there was frost on the ol' pumpkin yesterday morning while temperatures, although record lows
for the date, didn't reach freezing.
The officially recorded temperature at the airport was 36 degrees about 6 feet above ground
level. But your piggy-toes could have been freezing. The temperature last night, recorded at
5:30 a.m., broke the old record low of 37 degrees set in 1959.
"At my house, we had a killing frost," Giannetta said. That meant his tomato and other
less-hardy plants are done for the season.
Donna Dorn was more fortunate. Dorn, a Salisbury Township resident, heard the frost was coming
from co-workers at the Penn State Cooperative Extension and covered her tomato plants. She also
moved more than 50 house plants she keeps outside during the summer and early fall back inside
to protect against the killing cold. Her efforts were rewarded this morning. "When I lifted off
one basket, there was ice on it and I could see frost on the ground," Dorn said.
Not quite so lucky was Eileen Weinsteiger, head gardener at Rodale's Research Center near
Mertztown. Weinsteiger, who tends the 1-acre demonstration garden, said fragile basil plants
were hardest hit by the frost. The garden, in a low-lying area near a stream, also received
damage to a patch of impatiens, and some squash. "I knew there was a frost warning but I didn't
think it was going to hit as hard as it did," said Weinsteiger. Even if she knew of the frost's
severity, Weinsteiger said, "I just can't cover everything." Checks at local pumpkin patches
found that, for the most part, the hardy gourds were undamaged.
Giannetta said that the massive high pressure system bringing cold Canadian air through
Pennsylvania and the east will abate somewhat over the next several days. Last night, lows
were expected to dip to only around 40, decreasing the likelihood of frost except in outlying
or low-lying areas, he said. Said Giannetta, "It's moderating. Over the next few days, we'll
see temperatures rise a little bit."
|
"WEATHER BY GIANNETTA"