Public Information Statement
Issued by NWS Albany, NY
Issued by NWS Albany, NY
526 NOUS41 KALY 281816 PNSALY CTZ001-013-MAZ001-025-NYZ032-033-038>043-047>054-058>061-063>066- 082>084-VTZ013>015-290630- Public Information Statement National Weather Service Albany NY 216 PM EDT Wed Aug 28 2024 ...NWS Albany zone groupings for Frost/Freeze Advisories and Warnings have changed based on 1991-2020 climate values... ...NWS Albany will continue an experiment this fall to improve services related to the Frost/Freeze Program... Frost/Freeze zone group changes for fall of 2024 are as follows: All of Litchfield County, CT and all of Dutchess County, NY are now in the climatological zone group with a median date of the first fall freeze of October 11. All of Fulton County, NY is now in the climatological zone group with a median date of the first fall freeze of October 1. The National Weather Services (NWS) Frost/Freeze Program consists of issuing Frost Advisories, Freeze Warnings or Hard Freeze Warnings when cold temperatures threaten tender vegetation and crops during the climatological growing season. The growing season is defined by the period of time between the median date of the last Spring Freeze and the median date of the first Fall Freeze. Prior to 2020, our discontinuation of the issuance of Frost/Freeze headlines during the fall season was based on the occurrence of a freeze in a weather forecast zone or two weeks after the median first Fall Freeze date. This approach was confusing to many users as meteorological conditions often led to a patchwork ending of the NWS frost/freeze program across weather forecast zones and NWS forecast areas. The NWS forecast offices serving New England and New York (Burlington VT, Gray ME, Caribou ME, Boston/Norton MA, Albany NY, Buffalo NY, Binghamton, NY, New York NY) will continue an experimental program service during the fall of 2024. The purpose of this experimental program is to streamline the Frost/Freeze program for simplified customer usability. This experiment means that Frost/Freeze headlines will be issued for any threat of a frost/freeze during the growing season up to the date of the 75th percentile of the median first Fall Freeze, established by using 30 year temperature averages. This equates to 10 days after the median first fall freeze. During the defined growing season, NWS Albany will issue frost/freeze headlines as needed. Once the end date of the climatologically defined growing season is reached, frost/freeze headlines will no longer be issued for that climatological area as frost and freeze are expected. The following are the climatologically defined areas and their respective ending dates of the growing season in eastern New York and western New England for fall of 2024: October 1: The southern Adirondacks of NY. October 11: Mohawk Valley, Eastern Catskills and northern Taconics in New York. Southern Vermont and the Berkshires in western New England. October 21: Hudson Valley and southern Taconics in New York and Litchfield County in northwest Connecticut. Our goal is to streamline the frost/freeze process, by using defined ending dates, which should make it easier and aid in planning decisions for our users. A detailed handout with Median Last Spring and First Fall Freeze maps can be found at: https://www.weather.gov/media/aly/ALBFrostFreezeFall24.pdf If you have any questions or comments on this experiment, please reach out to Steve DiRienzo, Warning Coordination Meteorologist at stephen.dirienzo@noaa.gov or call 518-626-7542. $$ NWS Albany