Some folks in North Georgia got an unusual late March sight: snow flurries fell briefly this afternoon.  Although it was 45 degrees outside, much colder air aloft combined with lower pressure caused by a short wave passing through squeezed out just enough moisture for the flakes, which melted on contact with the ground. Temperatures today are 20 degrees cooler than normal, and the northern two thirds of the state will see a freeze tonight.  If you succumbed to the spring planting urge over the weekend, either bring your plants in, or at least cover them over.

Tonight’s freeze won’t be anywhere near as bad as the Easter Freeze of 2007. though.  Not only is it likely to be a bit warmer than the 28 degrees recorded last April, but not as many plants have started to bloom. A freeze in late March isn’t too unusual.  For metro Atlanta, the typical last frost occurs sometime between April 1st and April 15th.

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For the first time since July, 2007, none of Georgia is experiencing exceptional drought conditions. The most recent Georgia drought monitor shows that 46% of the state is drought free, and that parts of southern Fulton, DeKalb and Gwinnett counties have improved to the severe drought category, a step up from the extreme drought conditions seen further north.

Including the 1.15 inches of rain that fell yesterday at the Atlanta airport, we are above normal for March precipitation, and only down 1.79 inches for the year.  Last year at this time, only 7.89 inches of rain had fallen in Atlanta, so we’re way ahead of last year.  Lake Lanier is responding as well, rising about a third of a foot from the rain yesterday.

The drought outlook continues to call for improvement in the parts of Alabama and Georgia that were hardest hit last year, and some improvement for  the remainder of North Georgia, South Carolina and North Caroliina.  This outlook parallels the latest monthly precipitation outlook for April:

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With Spring officially arriving tonight, and the weather warming up, it’s time to start thinking about planting outdoors. There are two weather-related things to keep in mind before you run out to the garden center to pick up those summer annuals.

The first is the last freeze date. You don’t want those newly planted flowers to freeze. For Georgia, the last frost date ranges from March 20th along a line from Columbus to Macon to Augusta to April 20th up in the mountains of Northeast Georgia near Clayton. According to the Weather Service, metro Atlanta to Athens has its last freeze sometime between March 30th and April 10th.

In reality, though, the last time Atlanta had a spring freeze in April was back in 2000, and before that, you have to go back to 1992. There have been a number of freezes in late March, however. In addition, Atlanta tends to be a bit warmer than the suburban counties, so the actual last freeze date would be a bit later here.

In addition to thinking about the last freeze, consider the soil temperature before you plant. Most annuals won’t grow much until the soil temperature remains above 60 degrees, and some plants, prefer temperatures above 70. I keep track of the soil temperature with a probe about 6 inches down in my backyard. A graph of the temperature is below:

The image above is live, and as I look at it, I see the soil temperature reached 56 degrees during last week’s warm spell, then dropped to 48 over the chilly weekend. It’s now on the way back up. So, as of today, it’s still too early to plant, even if you were positive we weren’t going to see any below 32 degree weather. When you see the temperature above 60 and staying there, that’s a pretty good indication that it’s safe to plant.

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Despite the fact that we’re at the end of the first week of spring, the weather certainly seems like it isn’t cooperating. Today’s high temperature of 51 was a full 16 degrees below normal. The weather service has issued a frost advisory for tonight, and a freeze advisory for Saturday night and Sunday night. And, the 80 degree weather we saw two weekends ago seems like a distant memory.

The persistent cold is being caused by an upper-level low over Ohio that is acting to bring cold, northern air into our area. It hasn’t moved much over the last few days, and isn’t expected to be gone until Monday. Until then, we’ll see weather more like late February than late March.

It’s about time for the last freeze of the winter, which we will likely see this weekend. The average last freeze date in Atlanta is March 30th. The last time we saw a freeze in April was in 2000, when it dropped below 32 degrees on the ninth. It can be even later. In 1986, we saw a freeze as late as April 23rd.

The cooler weather is probably good news for the folks in Augusta, who always like to have the Azaleas blooming during the second week of April. I was worried that the warm weather was going to bring them out too early. So, maybe there’s a slight silver lining to the cool weather cloud.

Speaking of golf, it looks like good weather for the BellSouth Classic at Sugarloaf next week. The cool weather will finally move out early next week, and 70 degree temperatures are expected by the time the golfers tee off on Thursday. There’s a chance of thunder, though, and possible gusty winds on Friday and Saturday, but by the final round on Sunday, better weather will have returned.

The long range forecast calls for good weather for the Masters Tournament as well, with plenty of sun, and highs in the low 70s, at least for Friday and Saturday.

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Today marks the first day of spring, when the sun sets 12 hours after it rises, at least at the equator. We are still adding just over two minutes of daylight per day. Just in case you’re wondering, the average last freeze date in Gwinnett is sometime between March 30th and April 10th. The record Atlanta last freeze date is April 25th. So, you probably ought to plan on waiting another two to three weeks before putting out the annuals.

So, what will the first week of Spring likely bring for the weather? A low currently over Colorado is moving our way, with the leading edge of the front primarily affecting South Georgia on Monday. This storm is expected to bring strong thunderstorms and a chance of tornadoes to the Louisiana and Arkansas area on Monday. The storm’s energy arrives in our area on Tuesday, bringing a possibility of severe weather here. Indeed, the weather service has issued a special weather statement advising of the possibility of bad weather.

The storm moves through quickly, though, and it looks like we’ll have very pleasant weather later in the week, with temperatures hovering around the 70 degree mark. By Saturday night, there is another chance of a storm coming in, which could last through Easter Sunday, and into Monday the 28th.

Longer range, we’re likely to see slightly above normal temperatures and below normal rainfall for the last week of the month, which is good news for the folks at Duluth’s BellSouth Classic golf tournament. After the possible Easter storm, the weather looks good until the weekend of April 2nd, when there is a chance of another storm.

If we do get bad weather on Tuesday, I’ll try to keep up with it here.

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