First frost? We’re right on schedule if it arrives Tuesday

Signs of seasonal change are all around us. The city pool is not only closed, it’s been drained and repainted. Dairy Castle has served its last turtle sundae until sometime in February. And pumpkin spice lattes are back.

Can our first frost really be far behind?

Forget all that old frost-on-the-pumpkin mishmash. Frost isn’t waiting its arrival on jack-o-lanterns or Butterball turkey sales. Generally we can expect our first frost to arrive well before all zombies and Donald Trump masks descend upon our neighborhoods for Halloween.

After all, the National Weather Service (NWS) so coldly reports that temperatures across the Central Indiana typically fall into the 30s between October and early November.

Frost, which often can be quite localized, is variable even across a small area, the Weather Service explains. If you live in a rural or a low-lying area, your first frost could come earlier than other locales. Conversely, if you live in a more urban area, that first frost might arrive later than the suggested dates.

Yet even before the first official frost arrives, a low temperature of 36 degrees or less can bring about patchy frost in low, outlying areas. In Putnam County, the Weather Service says that precursor to winter usually arrives on or about Oct. 6.

The earliest such a patchy occurrence can be traced back to is Sept. 13, 1902 while the latest reported local event came on Oct. 25, 2005.

The typical first frost -- occurring officially when 32-degree or lower temperatures are recorded -- arrives on average by Oct. 15 (or Tuesday) in and around Greencastle.

The earliest the first frost ever recorded in Greencastle, according to NWS records that date back to 1895, was on Sept. 23 in 1995.

Meanwhile, the latest date of the first frost occurring locally came in 1902 on a very Thanksgiving-like Nov. 23.

However, a widespread hard freeze -- typically accompanied by a temperature of 28 degrees or lower -- can be another thing. On average that occurs in Greencastle on Oct. 26, the NWS says.

The earliest hard freeze ever reported locally was on Sept. 26 in 1928, while the latest occurrence came on Nov. 28, way back in 1899.

Forgive us if all this cold air and hard freeze chatter is a bit numbing. There is, however, always that glimmer of hope that the final spring freeze can bring.

And that, the NWS reports, typically occurs on April 26 in the Greencastle area.

The earliest date on which the final spring freeze has ever occurred locally came on March 25, 1898, while the latest date it has happened was May 25 back in 1925.