After a frontal passage and chilly weekend for the East – which has been anomalously warm over the past few months – temperatures are once again on the upswing.

Much-above average temperatures are on tap today as the flow around the ridge in place over the Central and Eastern US brings in warmer air from the south.

However, as Armando expertly explained in his last blog, this shot of warmer weather won’t last. Think of it as the deep breath before the plunge back into late winter.

Armando explained how the forecasted cold air intrusion will come about in the aforementioned blog. I’m going to focus on what impacts close-to-freezing air may have on the recently spring-like Eastern US.

As mentioned above, January, February, and the few days of March we’ve had so far have been well above average for much of the Eastern US. This has lead the early bloom of vegetation.

Trees and flowers as far north as the Ohio Valley and the Mid-Atlantic (even into New York City!) are in bloom now – a bloom that is at least 20 days early for many. Some have even experienced their earliest bloom on record!

The early start to the growing season becomes a problem when we inevitably return to colder conditions later this week.

The chance for chilly, potentially sub-freezing nights returns with the colder pattern. Some of this region hasn’t seen a night below freezing in weeks, much less a hard freeze (multiple hours below freezing).

While this isn’t expected to be a record-breaking cold event by any means, the return of nighttime temperatures near/below freezing can do damage to newly-emerged greenery.

And, below average temperatures look to linger into the latter half of the month at this point. This long-duration cool down has the potential to stall or end the leaf out in progress, at least for the next couple of weeks.

If you’re a farmer with any crops emerging, start making plans to protect your sensitive plants if a freeze is forecast for your area.

If you’re a gardener that got an early start to the growing season, bring those plants inside on the cold nights, if possible. Otherwise, protect them as best as you can.

Hopefully we’ll get away with minimal damages done to plants sprouting in False Spring by the Return of Winter.