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Illinois farmers escape early freeze event

Frost covered areas of Illinois this week, but the state climatologist says farmers escaped an early freeze event.

Trent Ford tells Brownfield Tuesday night was the greatest chance for an early freeze.

“There were a couple of stations that did get close. Monmouth got to 34, Macomb got to 33, but we didn’t see that below freezing mark.”

Ford saw reports of frosted fields as far south as I-64.

He says a gentle warm-up over the next 7 to 10 days should put temperatures closer to average and push any potential freeze events further out.

“The first fall freeze typically comes the second or third week of October in northern Illinois, the third to fourth week of October in central Illinois and the first couple weeks of November in southern Illinois. That is the median over the last 30 years or so.”

He says an early fall freeze would not pose as much of a threat to row crops as a late spring freeze, but there is a risk for cracking in low moisture soybeans.  

“But it really takes getting down to 27 or 28 degrees to see those impacts.”       

He says an early freeze event would impact quality of specialty crops like pumpkins and apples, but most are hardy to temperatures in the low thirties.