Winter chill to put York County into a deep freeze

After weeks of balmy temperatures in December, a cold weather system is expected to drop overnight temperatures well below freezing in York County.

Overnight temperatures in the lower 20s are expected Tuesday and Wednesday mornings, with highs between 40 and 45 degrees both days, according to the National Weather Service.

“We’ve had a major pattern change, a large-scale pattern,” said Jeffrey Taylor, a meteorologist with the weather service at Greenville-Spartanburg Airport. “It’s bringing colder air down closer to us.”

Taylor said this week’s freezing temperatures are probably among the lowest this winter. The weather system, he said, “is pretty strong, and it’s pretty deep, so it’s bringing some pretty cold temperatures with it.”

Taylor said temperatures are expected to warm up later this week, with highs around 60 degrees by Saturday and lows around 45.

For family-owned peach farm Bush-n-Vine near York, the cold weather isn’t a problem, said Sam Hall, son of owner Bob Hall. “It’s good on the peaches, because they still need more chilling hours,” he said.

Strawberries are blooming in covered tunnels, Hall said, but those plants are not vulnerable. “We are covering up our strawberries just to protect them,” he said.

“I think it will probably get down to the teens here at the farm,” Hall said. “Usually we are about 5 degrees colder in the winter than what they are expecting, so I’m expecting about 18 degrees here at the farm Wednesday morning.”

Hall said December was almost too warm.

“That got things nice and lush, so the frost will slow things down a bit,” he said. “It was just getting too warm in December, as nice as it was.”

Paul Thompson, a horticulture agent with the Clemson Extension Service in York County, said homeowners can cover tender plants with fabric to protect them. Some examples include leafy winter vegetables such as collards or kale.

Plastic isn’t recommended for frost protection unless it’s on a structure held away from the plant, he said, because if any of the plastic touches the plant, it will transmit cold temperatures to the plant instead of protecting the plant.

“Fabric is not that way,” he said. “Fabric is one of the better options for tender plants.”

Container plants could be moved into a garage, Thompson said. “If a pot is above the ground, the soil is more subject to freezing and damaging the roots and crown of the plant,” he said.

This story was originally published January 4, 2016 at 4:12 PM with the headline "Winter chill to put York County into a deep freeze."