PRESS RELEASE
Hard Freeze Forecasted for Vermont, Potential for Agricultural Losses
 
WATERBURY, VT – The National Weather Service (NWS) has issued a freeze warning for Bennington and Eastern Windham Counties, tonight. The warning is in effect from 2AM through 8AM Thursday morning. The NWS also has increasing concern that there could be an additional two to three days of hard freezes, over the weekend, with low temperatures in the mid-20s to lower 30s along the immediate shores of Lake Champlain, 20s in the Champlain Valley and much of the rest of the North Country.

Freezing temperatures could severely damage or destroy fruit tree and grape development for a late summer/fall harvest. And with the warm winter and spring temperatures, bud development stages of perennial fruit trees are weeks ahead of schedule and therefore makes them especially susceptible to hard freezes.

Graphical forecasts are available on the NWS website at http://graphical.weather.gov/sectors/btv.php.

For information about critical temperature for fruit crops at different stages and frost protection techniques please visit:  http://www.uvm.edu/vtvegandberry/frostprotection.html