The end of the growing season is approaching. The release of the new climate normals earlier this spring means we also have a new set of frost/freeze normals. In doing so, I looked at the average first freeze date for various locations across the Commonwealth based on the 1991 to 2020 climate normals. As you can see in the table below, several locations now see their average first freeze occur sometime in late October or early November.

Following the shift to a warmer climate across Kentucky over the past decade, the average first freeze dates above have been pushed back in the fall season. In the chart below, I compared the average first freeze date for various locations across the state according to three different sets of normals: 1971-2000, 1981-2010 and 1991 to 2020. As you can see, some stations have seen their average first freeze date pushed back a week or more over the past 20 years.

Source: University of Kentucky Ag Weather Update by Matt Dixon, Meteorologist