Oct. 1 is the date that decides how Middle Tennessee gardeners find out about the first frost of fall, and this year it passed without a single frost advisory or freeze warning. The National Weather Service office in Nashville ends its frost and freeze alert program on that date each year, WSMV 4 meteorologist Bree Smith reported on Oct. 28. Because the region never got cold enough for one before the cutoff, the next frost or freeze warning will not come until the growing season restarts in April.
Why the Nashville office stops on Oct. 1
Most weather alerts exist to protect people. Frost and freeze alerts are different: they are meant to protect crops and tender plants during the growing season, according to the WSMV report.
Middle Tennessee’s growing season ends in early October, so the Nashville office ends its frost and freeze alert program on Oct. 1. Once that season is over, there are no longer crops in the ground for the alerts to protect, so the office stops issuing them.
The alerts return when the growing season resumes in the spring. For Middle Tennessee, that means April, Smith reported…