In Episode 24, Shane Holinde, the Outreach Manager for the Kentucky Mesonet and Kentucky Climate Center, discusses various topics. He discusses the KY Mesonet, the free downloadable app, and Kentucky Climate Trends. He also talks about the recent USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map change. Additionally, Shane has over 22 years of experience working in television as a meteorologist at WBKO-TV in Bowling Green, KY.
Click on episode 24 of the Sunshine Gardening Podcast to listen to the entire show! It is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and Spotify!
Links:
Kentucky Mesonet Site: https://www.kymesonet.org/
Link to Download the Kentucky Mesonet App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/kentucky-mesonet/id1365272874
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
- Since the start of themillennium, particularly
around 2000, we'regetting warmer in Kentucky
and we're also getting wetter in Kentucky.
And because we're gettingwarmer, particularly
during the winter season, we have seen
that change in the plant zonehardiness from what was six B
for most of the statefor a long period of time
(00:20):
to now seven A for mostof the commonwealth.
And that would includethe bowling green area.
In fact, even seven B conditionsare creeping up now from
out of Tennessee
and into portions of far,uh, southwest Kentucky
and areas along the Tennessee line.
And basically what that means is that
because we're getting warmer,we are now seeing a hardiness
(00:42):
of what was zero to minus five
for vegetation during the winter season.
Now bumped up to zeroto five degrees above
that would be for zone seven A.
So some of the plants ofvegetation that might have been
optimal for growth in six B,
well now they may be more susceptible
to cold snaps since we have jumped zones.
(01:05):
- That voice is ShaneHoy, the outreach manager
for the Kentucky Mezzat andKentucky Climate Center.
He also is a meteorologistwith over 22 years
of experience working intelevision at WBKO TV in
Bowling Green Kentucky.
Welcome back garden enthusiast.
I'm your host Kristin Hildebrand.
(01:27):
And today we're starting witha key segment, the weather.
As we know Mother Nature holds the rains
regarding successful gardening.
Shane and I will delve intoKentucky Climate Trends,
the Kentucky Mezzanine app,
and the most recent change tothe USDA plant hardiness zone.
(01:48):
So grab your gardening glovesand let's dive in. Welcome
- To the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
This gardening show will equip
and inspire avid gardeners with tips
and tricks to help themnavigate the gardening world.
The show will also highlightspecific growing requirements
for seasonal plants so thesun will shine brighter over
(02:08):
their Kentucky garden.
And now here's that ray ofSunshine Garden enthusiast
and horticulture extensionagent Kristin Hildebrand
with the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
- Thanks for being withus today on the podcast.
Shane, I'm really glad to have you here.
I know the main topicthat I wanna talk about
(02:29):
with you today is about the weather.
And I know that a lot of people
can even start theirconversation with like,
how's the weather been today?
And it seems like for usin Kentucky, if you look
through the years like 2021
and 2022 December, itseemed like it was cold
and we got a lot of questions
and even just a couple weeksago in the month of January,
(02:52):
we had some cold weather as well.
So I know as your role asthe outreach, uh, manager
for the Kentucky Meine,there's probably a wealth
of information that is onthe Kentucky mezzanine site.
And I don't know if I fullyknew the potential that it did,
but do you care first totalk about the weather,
to explain a little bit moreabout Kentucky Mezzanine?
(03:12):
Maybe give us a little bit ofhistory on how it was started
and some things that we might not know
about Kentucky Mezzanine
- A sure thing Kristen.
And yes, as you mentioned, uh,
weather is I think the numberone conversation starter here
in the state of Kentuckybecause it's so variable.
We're a battleground staybetween the cold dry air
that swoops in from outthe Canadian prairies
(03:34):
and the warm, moist air
that moves in from out the Gulf of Mexico.
When those two clash, that'swhen we get some pretty
active weather around here.
So Kentucky mezzo net,just some history about us
and who we are, we date back officially
to 2006 even though our firststation online did not appear
until May, 2007.
And that's located atthe West Kentucky Farm.
(03:56):
Uh, the Iraq Center on thesouth side of Bowling Green.
But it was in oh six when the first bit
of money was earmarked for the uh, start
of Kentucky mezzaninesystem in our state by uh,
Senator Mitch McConnell at the time.
So from 2006 up until2016, the first 10 years
of our existence, we were funded primarily
(04:18):
on the federal level.
That changed in 2016 aswe went into the hands
of the state of Kentucky.
So for about eight years now, most
of our funding has come from the state.
I say most because we stillhave uh, some grant money
that is funneled into keepingthe mezzan net around.
But basically we are thestate's official weather
(04:40):
and climate monitoring system now
with 79 sites strongpushing on 80, we do plan
to open up some new sites this year.
We are targeting countieslike Green County
for potential development along
with Clay County over the east.
And uh, we also have Powell County set
to go online potentiallylater this year along
(05:01):
with several other counties
which we're looking at right now.
There are 74 counties thathave at least one Mezzat site
and these sites take inthings like air temperature,
relative humidity, dewpoint, the measurement
of moisture in theatmosphere, precipitation.
We have gauges for thatset aside from our towers
which are loaded with instrumentationwhich also measure uh,
(05:22):
air pressure, wind speed, winddirection, solar radiation.
We take that in as well along
with measurements below ground.
And that would include soil temperature
and moisture from two inches,four inches all the way down
to a 40 inch depths atabout 60 of our 79 sites.
- I was gonna say really interesting,
I know you mentioned a few counties there
that you're potentially gonna add some
(05:44):
instrumentation there.
Is it just mainly to go backto funding to make those happen
or does there technicians thathave to make that happen too?
- Well, funding is part of it.
Uh, these sites,
because they're researchgrade, they don't come cheap,
but uh, that's where we relyheavily on the state funds
as well as the grant moneythat we receive here at meda.
(06:05):
But we also rely on localchampions, the local farmers
and property owners who a setaside a small plot of land.
And by small we mean nomore than about 40 feet
by 40 feet approximately.
And that's just big enoughto erect our tower along
with our precip gauge
and then a solar panels to takein not just the solar energy
(06:27):
but also to help, uh,energize the batteries
that we have at our sites. I
- Was gonna say, does ithave to be on pretty level
ground as well?
- Yes it does. And of course uh,
Kentucky is not a flatstate, so therein lies part
of the problem sometimeswith regard to expansion
of our network, particularlyin the eastern part
of the state where it is more mountainous,
(06:47):
we have some elevation thereof upwards of 2000 feet.
So, uh, that rugged terraincombined with the fact that uh,
it can be difficult sometimesto get a strong cell signal.
And that is a very important part
of keeping a site operational.
That means that sometimesthere are some challenges
involved in uh, selectingcounties, especially
(07:09):
out in the eastern partof the state where we have
to find ground that is less than 5% grade.
We also have to look for areasat least a hundred feet away
from uh, wooded locations.
We don't want to be tooclose to trees, too close
to buildings because if weare, then we start to get
to some contamination
of the good data coming into that site.
(07:30):
And we also want it to beon ground that is natural.
In other words, we don'twanna build on a gravel lot
where grass is growing throughthat we want it to be uh,
as natural as possiblewhen it comes to uh,
weather instrumentationand building it. That's
- All it really interesting.
What all does it take asfar as instrument wise?
Like what does that look likeif someone's never seen a
(07:52):
Kentucky mezzanine location?
Is there several instrumentsor just one or two?
- There are numerous instruments involved.
So on the tower itself, at thevery tip top you have a uh,
wind propeller anemometer.
So that's taking in thewind direction and speed
and that is at the 10meter level on the tower.
And our towers by the way,are about 34 feet tall.
(08:14):
You go underneath that
and at the nine meter levelwe are taking temperature
and then keep on going downto the two meter level,
which is approximately six feet high.
Uh, that's where we take inmore data including temperature,
air pressure, dew point,relative humidity.
We also have a leaf wetnesssensor at our sites attached to
that two meter bar.
(08:35):
And obviously, uh, that isvery advantageous when it comes
to looking at evaporation rates.
Eva transpiration rates
at the different sites across the state
and then you go down beneath the ground
and that's where we'remeasuring soil temperatures
and soil moisture in the various depth.
- Now I know at one ofthe talks that you gave
(08:56):
for us just recently,you talked about some
of these instruments can actually do,
is it 3D images, is that correct?
- Yeah, so we do have thecapability with our webcams to
look at infrared imagery,
our different sites across the state.
So that gives us a good ideaof how vegetation is behaving.
Is it too wet, is it too dry?
(09:18):
And of course of the webcamsthemselves, we continue
to increase our fleet of those,
we went from 23 webcamsoperational at the start
of last fall in September.
Now we're pushing 60.
And I could tell you that evennow our field technicians are
out and about at sites that
that do not have webcams installing
those and deploying those.
(09:40):
And we hope to havemost of our sites fitted
with real time webcam imagery
that will update every fiveminutes as opposed to every 15
or 30 as it have beenpreviously for the sites
that were equipped with webcams prior.
So this is big news for us.
It's also big news for thefolks at the National Weather
Service who warn
(10:01):
for thunderstorm activityemergency management.
And it's good for the publicuse as well to to be able
to hop on the website
and check out what's goingon at the site near them.
- Yeah, I think that'shuge like for advancement,
I don't know if you can slowthat down in like real time,
actual time, but that wouldbe fascinating to watch.
Um, little sidebar there.
(10:21):
But speaking of access,
how can the public accessthe Kentucky Meza net site
and like you said, there'sseveral counties on there,
you're working to add towards more, so
where should people goto to check that out?
- So ky mezzat.org, that isthe site that will take you
directly to the main page.
Once you're there, the firstthing you'll see will be the
temperatures, at least rightnow anyway, I can tell you
(10:43):
that our website is gettingready to undergo some changes,
particularly with the main page.
We are going to be adding alot of new maps with a lot
of different parameters.
Everything from 24 48hour weather comparisons
to heating and cooling degreedays which come into play.
Especially as we getinto the growing season,
(11:06):
which will be upon us before we know it.
Uh, we talk about degree days.
That would be uh, thedifference there above
and below 65 degrees as faras the amount of energy needed
to heat things up or coolthings down, heat in the seas
of apparent temperatures, wind show values
and comparisons with those, A lot more
of those parameterswill be coming down the
(11:26):
pike on our website soon.
So we're very excited about that.
We also have an app thatis Kentucky Mezzanine,
which you can download forthe iPhone or for the Android.
I have it downloaded to my phone.
In fact it's usually the firstapp I check when I get up
and rolling in the morningbecause not only can you get the
current conditions therefor the site nearest you,
you can also look at a 36hour forecast available
(11:50):
from the National WeatherService tailored for that site.
- That's awesome. So youcan take it on the go,
you don't just have tobe in front of a computer
to watch it, so that's awesome.
Is that a free app as well?
- Yes, that AB is absolutely free.
And I should point out too that uh,
Kentucky Meza is under the hat
of the Kentucky Climate Center
(12:10):
and we also have a websitewith that KY climate.org.
The mezzo net site link is included in
that particular webpage.
We also have hydrologic information there,
agricultural information
through a different linkscould see what's occurring
with drought or lackthereof with the information
(12:30):
that we have on that website as well.
So ky meza net.org and KY climate.org.
- Yeah, that's awesome especially
with all the different measurementtools that you all have.
And it seems like spring brings the rain
but then the summer ismore the drought fall can I
guess go either way.
In the wintertime everybody'swanting to know is there ice,
is there snow, you know,
(12:51):
what affects their crops ifthey're in the dormancy stage.
And so that's just a, awealth of options there
and I know my mind's blown so,
and I'll have to add that
to my list about downloading the app.
I do wanna transition just a little bit
because one of the main reasonsI had you on the podcast was
to talk to you about thisrecent change that they've added
(13:14):
to the USDA plant hardiness zone.
And you know, for Kentuckywe have always, for as long
as I can remember, I'll put it that way,
we've always been in zone six B
and in 2023 in the latterpart, I think it was November,
they switched that over to zone seven A.
So can you talk to us, I knowthat you've been in weather
(13:35):
for a long time, so could youtell us maybe a little bit
about what climate trends
that we're seeing for thestate of Kentucky? Sure.
- So since the start of themillennium, particularly
around 2000, we'regetting warmer in Kentucky
and we're also getting wetter in Kentucky.
And because we're gettingwarmer, particularly
during the winter season, we have seen
(13:56):
that change in the plant zonehardiness from what was six B
for most of the statefor a long period of time
to now seven A for mostof the commonwealth.
And that would includethe bowling green area.
In fact, even seven B conditionsare creeping up now from
out of Tennessee
and into portions of far,uh, southwest Kentucky
(14:16):
and areas along the Tennessee line.
And basically what that means is that
because we're getting warmer,we are now seeing a hardiness
of what was zero to minus five
for vegetation during the winter season.
Now bumped up to zeroto five degrees above
that would be for zone seven A.
(14:37):
So some of the plants ofvegetation that might have been
optimal for growth in six B,
well now they may be more susceptible
to cold snaps since we have jumped zones.
You take what happened inDecember, 2022, for instance,
right before Christmas we sawthis temperature in bowling
green plummet from 50 degrees
to Sub-Zero in about 10 hours time.
(15:00):
That shock, if you will,combined with the fact
that we didn't have a wholelot of snow to go with
that arctic blast resultedin the loss of a lot
of the tender vegetationfrom portions of the state.
I know in my backyard the DPA willows
that once aligned my fence line there
with my neighbor's yard,
they did not surviveuh, that arctic blast.
(15:22):
And then some of the boxwoodswere affected as well,
even down mine are still tryingto grow back from that uh,
bitter blast that we had in December 22.
So that's one example of what can happen
around here when we get tothe sudden cold snaps, uh,
particularly with not a lot of snow cover,
but if you have deepersnow cover, you're going
to have more insulated ground.
(15:44):
In the instance of December22, we didn't have much of that
and the snow we had was not enough
to completely cover the ground, unlike
what we saw at least in theBowling Green area in parts
of southern Kentucky just a couple
of weeks ago when we had anywherefrom three to five inches
of snow, even locally more so.
The hope is at this goround because of that
(16:05):
and combined with the fact
that the soils are more moistnow certainly than they were
back in the fall season,hopefully any damage to vegetation
with this particular coldsnap was very, very minimal.
Only time will tell,
of course we're still on only in January
and we've got a ways togo before things start
to perp back up again as wehead toward the spring season.
But, uh, one thing that alreadylooks different this year
(16:26):
as opposed to last is that uh,
we don't have the early season growth
of the spring flowers likethe the daffodils butter cups.
They were already in bloom bythe end of January last year.
I'm not seeing thataround the area this time.
And of course the cold midmonth was one reason for that.
There are indications that wecould be looking at more cold
(16:46):
before the season is out,
particularly in mid to late February.
So that could slow the early season
budding and blooming process.
Whereas last year, uh, we alreadyhad some trees leafing out
during the second week
of February including those dapper willows
that I told you about earlier.
So it's amazing how thingscan change from one season
(17:07):
to the next here in the state of Kentucky.
- Yes, and I have to ask you,
I know you mentioned thereDecember of 2020 uh, too,
where we had so many phonecalls as a result of all that.
Um, people's boxwood weren't looking well,
it seems like the laurelsgot hit pretty hard
and there was another number ones too,
but for December of 2021,
(17:28):
you know like when Bowling Greenhad the tornadoes just left
right and here, there andeverywhere it seemed like.
And you mentioned where warmer
and were wetter, I guessthat's one of the trends
that you're seeing too, especially
for the month of December.
Nobody really thinks about storm weather
in the month of December.
You know, I guess Kentucky
with us being in a transition zone,
(17:49):
we can hit anything really. Yeah,
- Anything goes here inKentucky any time of year
and any time of day
and December, 2021 in that uh,
catastrophic tornadooutbreak was a prime example.
That was an unusually warm month
for Kentucky back thewarmest ever December
for Bowling Green and alot of surrounding cities.
(18:09):
So when you combine the fact
that the things are getting warmer,
particularly in the winterseason, you have more capacity
for the atmosphere to hold moremoisture, more water vapor.
So if you get a strongstorm system moving in
to such an environmentlike you had there, lay on
that night in December 10th
and into the wee hoursof December 11th, 2021,
(18:30):
that's a recipe for trouble,
particularly if you havesome strong jet stream energy
involved where the wind'sabout 5,000 feet off the ground
are blowing 70 to 80 miles an hour.
All the ingredients cametogether unfortunately that night
for what was a terrible tornado outbreak
and Kentucky mezzaninewas part of measuring just
how fast those winds were in uh, some
(18:53):
of the strongest storms.
In fact, we set not one
but two wind records in thespan of one hour at a couple
of our sites in thewestern part of the state.
The site near Mayfield,which is located to six miles
outside of the city,measured a top wind gust
of 107 miles an hour.
That was at 9 25 on thenight of December 10th.
(19:13):
With that information combined with
what they were seeing on radar, the folks
of the National WeatherService in Paducah responsible
for uh, warning that areaissued a tornado emergency
for the city of Mayfield.
Fast forward to one hour later that uh,
EF four tornado had moved through Mayfield
and did so much destructionthere, stayed on the ground
(19:33):
through Marshall Lioninto Caldwell Counties.
Once it arrived at Princetonat the UK facility there,
it produced a wind gustsof 120 miles an hour,
one 20.1 to be exact.
And that happened at 1030 that night of the 10th.
So that is recognized
as the new state wind record for Kentucky.
(19:56):
That wind by the way,actually destroyed our tower.
We have just one piece of it,
the very tip top remaining here,
our operations center atWestern Kentucky University.
So that just goes to show thatuh, we've got that power here
with Kentucky Mezzanineto measure the weather
with real time every fiveminutes for advanced warning
(20:19):
and for hazard mitigationand for saving lives.
That's what it's all about.
- Exactly. And these toolsare very helpful to kind
of watch the weather and and be alert.
I was gonna say, witha lot of the resources
that you all have at Kentucky Meine,
is there any other thing that we need
to know about is furtherresources available?
- Sure. So there's a wealthof information when you go
(20:41):
to our websites that I mentioned earlier.
You could go to Kentuckyme.org, go to the data tab,
which is about midway over.
And if you want to see both monthly
and yearly summariesfor all of our 79 sites,
it's available right there.
So for instance, if you want
to go check out the WKU farm site
and see how things havetrended all the way back to
(21:03):
its inception of the late twothousands, you can go there
and see how things havetrended like during the month
of June, for example, in themiddle of the growing season.
So what years had ratherdry June as opposed to ones
that were rather wet to howdid temperatures compare
and contrast, you go back to2012, that's one of the years
(21:25):
that's interesting to look up
because we had a very terrible drought,
a high impact eventacross the commonwealth,
particularly the central andwestern part of the state
where it was severe toexceptional during the summer
and stayed that way all the way into fall.
Uh, we haven't had a yearquite like that since,
but we've had some years
where we've had thesewe call flash droughts
(21:47):
where we go from having uh, soils
that are not necessarily fully saturated,
but at least to sufficientlywet enough to all
of a sudden being in moderateto have not severe drought.
We had not one, buttwo of those last year.
One happened to occur
during the late springto early summer months.
We broke outta that in late June into
(22:09):
July with plenty of rain.
And then lo and beholdthings turned dry again
by the beginning of September
and thus came a seconddrought which turned into a
hydrologic drought might fallinto the early part of winter,
at least now we're breaking out of that.
But uh, you can also go to our website
and look at soil temperature
and moisture trends datingback several weeks for the 60
(22:32):
or so sites that include that data.
You can even go back forthe last couple of weeks
and see when the, theJanuary fall occurred when
temperatures warm fromall those days we had
that were sub freezing togoing into the forties,
then going into the fifties.
Uh, it was interesting Kristen to note
that soil temperatures at afour inch depth across parts
of the state were hoveringaround 32 degrees as late
(22:54):
as about January 22nd and 23rd.
Well, once we warmed things up,
we saw those soil temperatures,the top soil anyway,
bounce some eight to 10degrees in just one day's time.
So that change was pretty dramatic.
And of course as we get intothe growing season, a lot
of folks like to plant tomatoes.
They're very time sensitive,
very frost sensitive as you know.
(23:16):
So a good way to gauge howthat top soil is trending
with temperatures is throughour website@kymezzat.org.
- Yeah, I know after this winterseason it seems like people
are ready and anxiousto get outside and plant
and tomatoes is that number one vegetable
that everybody likes to plant.
And so when do we generally recommend
(23:37):
for planting tomatoesaccording to that weather?
Like you said for the frost-free dates,
because I know Eastern Kentuckyberries from South Central
even into the western part of the states.
So what do you generally recommend there?
- Well, for northern
and eastern parts of Kentucky,generally you wanna wait
until May.
Usually the, the old adagegoes if you wait till
(23:58):
after Kentucky Derby, whichis the first Saturday of May,
you're generally okay.
And I think the same isalso true for the central
and western regions.
We have four climate divisions by the way,
in the state of Kentucky.
And even though it is warmer in the south
and west generally than it is in the north
and east, we couldstill have those seasons
where we have these late season frosts
(24:21):
that can do damage to tomatoesin anything that is not
as hardy or as frost sensitive.
I go back to four years ago,2020, we had a very warm start
to spring, particularlyduring late March into April.
And then all of a sudden we had frost
and freezing temperatures around May 8th
and ninth, pretty deepinto the month of May
(24:42):
that was damaging to the wheat crop,
which had already beered itout and matured by that point
and damaged or killed any tomatoes
that had been planted by that point.
So slow your hole gardenerswhen it comes to uh,
planting things liketomatoes, squash, zucchini.
I know if we go into these long stretches
where it could be in the seventies
or even the eighties like in March
(25:03):
and April, the temptationis to want to go ahead
and put those into the ground.
But you're never really free of frost
and freeze around here untilI think sometimes into the
second week of May.
That's especially trueover in the northern
and eastern parts of the state.
And by the way, we saw this last year,
although it happened earlier,talked earlier about uh,
the things butting outand leafing out with trees
(25:25):
and vegetation so earlyin the year of 2023.
And all of a sudden herecame the third week of March,
right at the beginningof spring of the 20th,
we had temperatures tumble into the teens.
Into teens that did considerabledamage to fruit crops,
particularly the peach crop last year.
Not just here in Kentucky but also into
portions of the deep south.
(25:45):
So that's one of the trendswe've been noting here in this
decade of the 2020s wherethe winters are warmer,
the growing seasonsoverall are getting longer.
However, you have to bevery careful when it comes
to planting anything frostor free sensitive so soon
because if you get that latein the season where we drop
below 32 degrees
(26:06):
and especially if we dropdown to 28 degrees, that's
what we consider hard freeze territory.
That can be a very damaging to anything
that's frost-free sensitive.
- I believe it was, was it 2007
or 2008 when we hadthat late spring freeze?
'cause it seemed like wehad an earlier Easter.
'cause I can remember beingin my Easter dress
and it was snowing outside
(26:27):
and it seems like wehad that lot of damage
to our landscape trees and
'cause I remember theyjust, they got a lot
of damage from that too.
But with all these datesthat you've mentioned,
I know we've mentioned severaldates throughout the podcast
here, but it seems likehistory has a way of
of repeating itself for sure.
Right?
- It does. And I rememberit was 2007 the year you're
(26:49):
referring to where we hadthe Easter weekend freeze.
That event was particularlysinister for a lot of the plants
and vegetation because itwas one of those years where
we came out of one
of the warmest marches everhere in Kentucky, a lot of days
with highs in the lowto even middle eighties.
And then all of a sudden temperatures
(27:10):
crashed on Easter weekend.
This was well into April.
And then we had not only snow,
but we had temperatures gettingdown into the lower twenties
at a point where a lot ofthe trees had leafed out.
So as a result, a lot of thoseleaves had that singed look.
I remember losingboxwoods in my other home
because of that event
and I think I planted a cherrydogwood tree in my front yard
(27:32):
that did not make it through that event.
It was a young tree at the time.
So that's another example ofone of those late season frost
and freeze occurrences thatwe seem to be getting more
of here in recent years.
- I was gonna say, going backto the tomatoes, I do remember
that occurrence 'cause it'slike people had planted right
after Derby day and thenI remember everybody like
(27:54):
scrounging to get buckets andwhatever to cover it up, up.
So you really need to be on the weather
and it seems like you'vecovered really well
what Kentucky Mez can do
and hopefully our listeners can download
that free downloadable appand put it on their phone
and check, like you said,wherever the nearest location is.
I know you're still, you saidworking on getting things in
(28:14):
the eastern part of the state,
but it's so nice to have thatinformation at our fingertips
and hopefully a lot of ourlisteners can download that.
Shane, I know that youare on social media.
Do you care to share
how we can like followyou on social media? Sure.
- So we have a Facebook pagefor Kentucky Mezzat as well
as uh, what is now x formerly Twitter.
(28:36):
Mm-Hmm and you can follow
us there for updates.
You can also follow KentuckyClimate Center on, uh,
the X platform.
We post several things throughout the day
and throughout the weekranging from us drought monitor
and that by the way, updatesevery Thursday morning.
The indices for thatare tabulated on Tuesday
(28:57):
and our state climatologist to Dr.
Brodsky is one of those thathelps tabulate those indices.
A lot of that informationcoming from our mezzanine sites
through soil moisture
and all that is fed intothat drought monitor.
So always watch for thatevery, uh, Thursday morning.
We've seen some improvement there lately
(29:18):
with all the rain that we've had.
So we're hoping that themoderate drought condition
that still exists for central
and eastern parts ofthe state is eliminated
with this next update.
But you can check there on social media.
We also repost, uh, informationfrom the National Centers
for Environmental Information as they, uh,
put out some great data
(29:38):
and stats with regardto not just Kentucky,
but the Midwest ClimateRegion, which we fall
underneath the head of
and also the uh, MidwestRegional Climate Center
that's based at PurdueUniversity up in Indiana.
They cover our region as well
and we'd like to repost the things
that they send out on social media.
(29:59):
So several ways you could follow us there.
- Yeah, I know that I enjoy some
of your posts on social mediajust to check out, especially,
it was really comical likeduring the winter season
and I think you all postedlike a real cool bubble
that was in like the cold
and I don't think I'veever witnessed that.
So that was really opening too.
- Yeah, so those frozen bubbles,
(30:19):
that was a couple weeks ago.
We had, uh, one personthere from Taylor County
send us a couple of shots
and that real bitterly cold air,
we had a temperature Sub-Zerocould slowly blow those
bubbles and then wash them freeze.
So that was neat.
We have a picture of the week that we post
to our Facebook page aswell as the Twitter page
through the mezzo net,
(30:41):
so we always get some reallycool submissions that way.
And you can email those to us as well.
My email is shane, SHAEdot hollande@wku.edu
or you can send it to ky mezzat at
wku edu.
- Awesome. I guess my next,
if we have another winterweather event, I'm gonna try
(31:01):
to get my 4-year-old out there
and try to recreatethat frozen bubble.
So Shane, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast.
You're a wealth of knowledge
and we're so lucky tohave you in our area.
So thanks again for joining us on
the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
- Thank you so much forhaving me, Kristen. Take care.
- Thank you for tuningin to today's episode
of the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
(31:23):
If you enjoyed the show,make sure to follow me
and leave a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
I would appreciate yoursupport and feedback.
Also, I wanna extend aspecial thank you to Shane Hoy
for being our guest on theSunshine Gardening Podcast.
To access the show notesfor episode 24 with Shane,
(31:45):
please visit me on the
blog@warrencountyagriculture.com.
Remember, keeping yourselfupdated about the weather
conditions can immensely impactthe success of your garden.
Whether you need to preparefor an unexpected frost
or ensure maximumsunlight for your plants,
being weather-wise is vitalfor a flourishing garden.
(32:09):
Stay tuned for more insightful tips
and discussions to elevateyour gardening game.
Until next time, happy gardening.
- Thanks for listening to theSunshine Gardening Podcast
with Kristen Hildebrand.
If you enjoy today's content, make sure
to hit the subscribe buttonwherever you get your podcast
to catch future segments
(32:29):
of the Sunshine GardeningPodcast gardeners.
Keep on digging and learningmore about gardening
so the sun shines brighterover your Kentucky Garden.
The Sunshine Gardening Podcast
with Kristen Hilderbrand is aproduction of the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
- Since the start of themillennium, particularly
around 2000, we'regetting warmer in Kentucky
and we're also getting wetter in Kentucky.
And because we're gettingwarmer, particularly
during the winter season, we have seen
that change in the plant zonehardiness from what was six B
for most of the statefor a long period of time
(00:20):
to now seven A for mostof the commonwealth.
And that would includethe bowling green area.
In fact, even seven B conditionsare creeping up now from
out of Tennessee
and into portions of far,uh, southwest Kentucky
and areas along the Tennessee line.
And basically what that means is that
because we're getting warmer,we are now seeing a hardiness
(00:42):
of what was zero to minus five
for vegetation during the winter season.
Now bumped up to zeroto five degrees above
that would be for zone seven A.
So some of the plants ofvegetation that might have been
optimal for growth in six B,
well now they may be more susceptible
to cold snaps since we have jumped zones.
(01:05):
- That voice is ShaneHoy, the outreach manager
for the Kentucky Mezzat andKentucky Climate Center.
He also is a meteorologistwith over 22 years
of experience working intelevision at WBKO TV in
Bowling Green Kentucky.
Welcome back garden enthusiast.
I'm your host Kristin Hildebrand.
(01:27):
And today we're starting witha key segment, the weather.
As we know Mother Nature holds the rains
regarding successful gardening.
Shane and I will delve intoKentucky Climate Trends,
the Kentucky Mezzanine app,
and the most recent change tothe USDA plant hardiness zone.
(01:48):
So grab your gardening glovesand let's dive in. Welcome
- To the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
This gardening show will equip
and inspire avid gardeners with tips
and tricks to help themnavigate the gardening world.
The show will also highlightspecific growing requirements
for seasonal plants so thesun will shine brighter over
(02:08):
their Kentucky garden.
And now here's that ray ofSunshine Garden enthusiast
and horticulture extensionagent Kristin Hildebrand
with the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
- Thanks for being withus today on the podcast.
Shane, I'm really glad to have you here.
I know the main topicthat I wanna talk about
(02:29):
with you today is about the weather.
And I know that a lot of people
can even start theirconversation with like,
how's the weather been today?
And it seems like for usin Kentucky, if you look
through the years like 2021
and 2022 December, itseemed like it was cold
and we got a lot of questions
and even just a couple weeksago in the month of January,
(02:52):
we had some cold weather as well.
So I know as your role asthe outreach, uh, manager
for the Kentucky Meine,there's probably a wealth
of information that is onthe Kentucky mezzanine site.
And I don't know if I fullyknew the potential that it did,
but do you care first totalk about the weather,
to explain a little bit moreabout Kentucky Mezzanine?
(03:12):
Maybe give us a little bit ofhistory on how it was started
and some things that we might not know
about Kentucky Mezzanine
- A sure thing Kristen.
And yes, as you mentioned, uh,
weather is I think the numberone conversation starter here
in the state of Kentuckybecause it's so variable.
We're a battleground staybetween the cold dry air
that swoops in from outthe Canadian prairies
(03:34):
and the warm, moist air
that moves in from out the Gulf of Mexico.
When those two clash, that'swhen we get some pretty
active weather around here.
So Kentucky mezzo net,just some history about us
and who we are, we date back officially
to 2006 even though our firststation online did not appear
until May, 2007.
And that's located atthe West Kentucky Farm.
(03:56):
Uh, the Iraq Center on thesouth side of Bowling Green.
But it was in oh six when the first bit
of money was earmarked for the uh, start
of Kentucky mezzaninesystem in our state by uh,
Senator Mitch McConnell at the time.
So from 2006 up until2016, the first 10 years
of our existence, we were funded primarily
(04:18):
on the federal level.
That changed in 2016 aswe went into the hands
of the state of Kentucky.
So for about eight years now, most
of our funding has come from the state.
I say most because we stillhave uh, some grant money
that is funneled into keepingthe mezzan net around.
But basically we are thestate's official weather
(04:40):
and climate monitoring system now
with 79 sites strongpushing on 80, we do plan
to open up some new sites this year.
We are targeting countieslike Green County
for potential development along
with Clay County over the east.
And uh, we also have Powell County set
to go online potentiallylater this year along
(05:01):
with several other counties
which we're looking at right now.
There are 74 counties thathave at least one Mezzat site
and these sites take inthings like air temperature,
relative humidity, dewpoint, the measurement
of moisture in theatmosphere, precipitation.
We have gauges for thatset aside from our towers
which are loaded with instrumentationwhich also measure uh,
(05:22):
air pressure, wind speed, winddirection, solar radiation.
We take that in as well along
with measurements below ground.
And that would include soil temperature
and moisture from two inches,four inches all the way down
to a 40 inch depths atabout 60 of our 79 sites.
- I was gonna say really interesting,
I know you mentioned a few counties there
that you're potentially gonna add some
(05:44):
instrumentation there.
Is it just mainly to go backto funding to make those happen
or does there technicians thathave to make that happen too?
- Well, funding is part of it.
Uh, these sites,
because they're researchgrade, they don't come cheap,
but uh, that's where we relyheavily on the state funds
as well as the grant moneythat we receive here at meda.
(06:05):
But we also rely on localchampions, the local farmers
and property owners who a setaside a small plot of land.
And by small we mean nomore than about 40 feet
by 40 feet approximately.
And that's just big enoughto erect our tower along
with our precip gauge
and then a solar panels to takein not just the solar energy
(06:27):
but also to help, uh,energize the batteries
that we have at our sites. I
- Was gonna say, does ithave to be on pretty level
ground as well?
- Yes it does. And of course uh,
Kentucky is not a flatstate, so therein lies part
of the problem sometimeswith regard to expansion
of our network, particularlyin the eastern part
of the state where it is more mountainous,
(06:47):
we have some elevation thereof upwards of 2000 feet.
So, uh, that rugged terraincombined with the fact that uh,
it can be difficult sometimesto get a strong cell signal.
And that is a very important part
of keeping a site operational.
That means that sometimesthere are some challenges
involved in uh, selectingcounties, especially
(07:09):
out in the eastern partof the state where we have
to find ground that is less than 5% grade.
We also have to look for areasat least a hundred feet away
from uh, wooded locations.
We don't want to be tooclose to trees, too close
to buildings because if weare, then we start to get
to some contamination
of the good data coming into that site.
(07:30):
And we also want it to beon ground that is natural.
In other words, we don'twanna build on a gravel lot
where grass is growing throughthat we want it to be uh,
as natural as possiblewhen it comes to uh,
weather instrumentationand building it. That's
- All it really interesting.
What all does it take asfar as instrument wise?
Like what does that look likeif someone's never seen a
(07:52):
Kentucky mezzanine location?
Is there several instrumentsor just one or two?
- There are numerous instruments involved.
So on the tower itself, at thevery tip top you have a uh,
wind propeller anemometer.
So that's taking in thewind direction and speed
and that is at the 10meter level on the tower.
And our towers by the way,are about 34 feet tall.
(08:14):
You go underneath that
and at the nine meter levelwe are taking temperature
and then keep on going downto the two meter level,
which is approximately six feet high.
Uh, that's where we take inmore data including temperature,
air pressure, dew point,relative humidity.
We also have a leaf wetnesssensor at our sites attached to
that two meter bar.
(08:35):
And obviously, uh, that isvery advantageous when it comes
to looking at evaporation rates.
Eva transpiration rates
at the different sites across the state
and then you go down beneath the ground
and that's where we'remeasuring soil temperatures
and soil moisture in the various depth.
- Now I know at one ofthe talks that you gave
(08:56):
for us just recently,you talked about some
of these instruments can actually do,
is it 3D images, is that correct?
- Yeah, so we do have thecapability with our webcams to
look at infrared imagery,
our different sites across the state.
So that gives us a good ideaof how vegetation is behaving.
Is it too wet, is it too dry?
(09:18):
And of course of the webcamsthemselves, we continue
to increase our fleet of those,
we went from 23 webcamsoperational at the start
of last fall in September.
Now we're pushing 60.
And I could tell you that evennow our field technicians are
out and about at sites that
that do not have webcams installing
those and deploying those.
(09:40):
And we hope to havemost of our sites fitted
with real time webcam imagery
that will update every fiveminutes as opposed to every 15
or 30 as it have beenpreviously for the sites
that were equipped with webcams prior.
So this is big news for us.
It's also big news for thefolks at the National Weather
Service who warn
(10:01):
for thunderstorm activityemergency management.
And it's good for the publicuse as well to to be able
to hop on the website
and check out what's goingon at the site near them.
- Yeah, I think that'shuge like for advancement,
I don't know if you can slowthat down in like real time,
actual time, but that wouldbe fascinating to watch.
Um, little sidebar there.
(10:21):
But speaking of access,
how can the public accessthe Kentucky Meza net site
and like you said, there'sseveral counties on there,
you're working to add towards more, so
where should people goto to check that out?
- So ky mezzat.org, that isthe site that will take you
directly to the main page.
Once you're there, the firstthing you'll see will be the
temperatures, at least rightnow anyway, I can tell you
(10:43):
that our website is gettingready to undergo some changes,
particularly with the main page.
We are going to be adding alot of new maps with a lot
of different parameters.
Everything from 24 48hour weather comparisons
to heating and cooling degreedays which come into play.
Especially as we getinto the growing season,
(11:06):
which will be upon us before we know it.
Uh, we talk about degree days.
That would be uh, thedifference there above
and below 65 degrees as faras the amount of energy needed
to heat things up or coolthings down, heat in the seas
of apparent temperatures, wind show values
and comparisons with those, A lot more
of those parameterswill be coming down the
(11:26):
pike on our website soon.
So we're very excited about that.
We also have an app thatis Kentucky Mezzanine,
which you can download forthe iPhone or for the Android.
I have it downloaded to my phone.
In fact it's usually the firstapp I check when I get up
and rolling in the morningbecause not only can you get the
current conditions therefor the site nearest you,
you can also look at a 36hour forecast available
(11:50):
from the National WeatherService tailored for that site.
- That's awesome. So youcan take it on the go,
you don't just have tobe in front of a computer
to watch it, so that's awesome.
Is that a free app as well?
- Yes, that AB is absolutely free.
And I should point out too that uh,
Kentucky Meza is under the hat
of the Kentucky Climate Center
(12:10):
and we also have a websitewith that KY climate.org.
The mezzo net site link is included in
that particular webpage.
We also have hydrologic information there,
agricultural information
through a different linkscould see what's occurring
with drought or lackthereof with the information
(12:30):
that we have on that website as well.
So ky meza net.org and KY climate.org.
- Yeah, that's awesome especially
with all the different measurementtools that you all have.
And it seems like spring brings the rain
but then the summer ismore the drought fall can I
guess go either way.
In the wintertime everybody'swanting to know is there ice,
is there snow, you know,
(12:51):
what affects their crops ifthey're in the dormancy stage.
And so that's just a, awealth of options there
and I know my mind's blown so,
and I'll have to add that
to my list about downloading the app.
I do wanna transition just a little bit
because one of the main reasonsI had you on the podcast was
to talk to you about thisrecent change that they've added
(13:14):
to the USDA plant hardiness zone.
And you know, for Kentuckywe have always, for as long
as I can remember, I'll put it that way,
we've always been in zone six B
and in 2023 in the latterpart, I think it was November,
they switched that over to zone seven A.
So can you talk to us, I knowthat you've been in weather
(13:35):
for a long time, so could youtell us maybe a little bit
about what climate trends
that we're seeing for thestate of Kentucky? Sure.
- So since the start of themillennium, particularly
around 2000, we'regetting warmer in Kentucky
and we're also getting wetter in Kentucky.
And because we're gettingwarmer, particularly
during the winter season, we have seen
(13:56):
that change in the plant zonehardiness from what was six B
for most of the statefor a long period of time
to now seven A for mostof the commonwealth.
And that would includethe bowling green area.
In fact, even seven B conditionsare creeping up now from
out of Tennessee
and into portions of far,uh, southwest Kentucky
(14:16):
and areas along the Tennessee line.
And basically what that means is that
because we're getting warmer,we are now seeing a hardiness
of what was zero to minus five
for vegetation during the winter season.
Now bumped up to zeroto five degrees above
that would be for zone seven A.
(14:37):
So some of the plants ofvegetation that might have been
optimal for growth in six B,
well now they may be more susceptible
to cold snaps since we have jumped zones.
You take what happened inDecember, 2022, for instance,
right before Christmas we sawthis temperature in bowling
green plummet from 50 degrees
to Sub-Zero in about 10 hours time.
(15:00):
That shock, if you will,combined with the fact
that we didn't have a wholelot of snow to go with
that arctic blast resultedin the loss of a lot
of the tender vegetationfrom portions of the state.
I know in my backyard the DPA willows
that once aligned my fence line there
with my neighbor's yard,
they did not surviveuh, that arctic blast.
(15:22):
And then some of the boxwoodswere affected as well,
even down mine are still tryingto grow back from that uh,
bitter blast that we had in December 22.
So that's one example of what can happen
around here when we get tothe sudden cold snaps, uh,
particularly with not a lot of snow cover,
but if you have deepersnow cover, you're going
to have more insulated ground.
(15:44):
In the instance of December22, we didn't have much of that
and the snow we had was not enough
to completely cover the ground, unlike
what we saw at least in theBowling Green area in parts
of southern Kentucky just a couple
of weeks ago when we had anywherefrom three to five inches
of snow, even locally more so.
The hope is at this goround because of that
(16:05):
and combined with the fact
that the soils are more moistnow certainly than they were
back in the fall season,hopefully any damage to vegetation
with this particular coldsnap was very, very minimal.
Only time will tell,
of course we're still on only in January
and we've got a ways togo before things start
to perp back up again as wehead toward the spring season.
But, uh, one thing that alreadylooks different this year
(16:26):
as opposed to last is that uh,
we don't have the early season growth
of the spring flowers likethe the daffodils butter cups.
They were already in bloom bythe end of January last year.
I'm not seeing thataround the area this time.
And of course the cold midmonth was one reason for that.
There are indications that wecould be looking at more cold
(16:46):
before the season is out,
particularly in mid to late February.
So that could slow the early season
budding and blooming process.
Whereas last year, uh, we alreadyhad some trees leafing out
during the second week
of February including those dapper willows
that I told you about earlier.
So it's amazing how thingscan change from one season
(17:07):
to the next here in the state of Kentucky.
- Yes, and I have to ask you,
I know you mentioned thereDecember of 2020 uh, too,
where we had so many phonecalls as a result of all that.
Um, people's boxwood weren't looking well,
it seems like the laurelsgot hit pretty hard
and there was another number ones too,
but for December of 2021,
(17:28):
you know like when Bowling Greenhad the tornadoes just left
right and here, there andeverywhere it seemed like.
And you mentioned where warmer
and were wetter, I guessthat's one of the trends
that you're seeing too, especially
for the month of December.
Nobody really thinks about storm weather
in the month of December.
You know, I guess Kentucky
with us being in a transition zone,
(17:49):
we can hit anything really. Yeah,
- Anything goes here inKentucky any time of year
and any time of day
and December, 2021 in that uh,
catastrophic tornadooutbreak was a prime example.
That was an unusually warm month
for Kentucky back thewarmest ever December
for Bowling Green and alot of surrounding cities.
(18:09):
So when you combine the fact
that the things are getting warmer,
particularly in the winterseason, you have more capacity
for the atmosphere to hold moremoisture, more water vapor.
So if you get a strongstorm system moving in
to such an environmentlike you had there, lay on
that night in December 10th
and into the wee hoursof December 11th, 2021,
(18:30):
that's a recipe for trouble,
particularly if you havesome strong jet stream energy
involved where the wind'sabout 5,000 feet off the ground
are blowing 70 to 80 miles an hour.
All the ingredients cametogether unfortunately that night
for what was a terrible tornado outbreak
and Kentucky mezzaninewas part of measuring just
how fast those winds were in uh, some
(18:53):
of the strongest storms.
In fact, we set not one
but two wind records in thespan of one hour at a couple
of our sites in thewestern part of the state.
The site near Mayfield,which is located to six miles
outside of the city,measured a top wind gust
of 107 miles an hour.
That was at 9 25 on thenight of December 10th.
(19:13):
With that information combined with
what they were seeing on radar, the folks
of the National WeatherService in Paducah responsible
for uh, warning that areaissued a tornado emergency
for the city of Mayfield.
Fast forward to one hour later that uh,
EF four tornado had moved through Mayfield
and did so much destructionthere, stayed on the ground
(19:33):
through Marshall Lioninto Caldwell Counties.
Once it arrived at Princetonat the UK facility there,
it produced a wind gustsof 120 miles an hour,
one 20.1 to be exact.
And that happened at 1030 that night of the 10th.
So that is recognized
as the new state wind record for Kentucky.
(19:56):
That wind by the way,actually destroyed our tower.
We have just one piece of it,
the very tip top remaining here,
our operations center atWestern Kentucky University.
So that just goes to show thatuh, we've got that power here
with Kentucky Mezzanineto measure the weather
with real time every fiveminutes for advanced warning
(20:19):
and for hazard mitigationand for saving lives.
That's what it's all about.
- Exactly. And these toolsare very helpful to kind
of watch the weather and and be alert.
I was gonna say, witha lot of the resources
that you all have at Kentucky Meine,
is there any other thing that we need
to know about is furtherresources available?
- Sure. So there's a wealthof information when you go
(20:41):
to our websites that I mentioned earlier.
You could go to Kentuckyme.org, go to the data tab,
which is about midway over.
And if you want to see both monthly
and yearly summariesfor all of our 79 sites,
it's available right there.
So for instance, if you want
to go check out the WKU farm site
and see how things havetrended all the way back to
(21:03):
its inception of the late twothousands, you can go there
and see how things havetrended like during the month
of June, for example, in themiddle of the growing season.
So what years had ratherdry June as opposed to ones
that were rather wet to howdid temperatures compare
and contrast, you go back to2012, that's one of the years
(21:25):
that's interesting to look up
because we had a very terrible drought,
a high impact eventacross the commonwealth,
particularly the central andwestern part of the state
where it was severe toexceptional during the summer
and stayed that way all the way into fall.
Uh, we haven't had a yearquite like that since,
but we've had some years
where we've had thesewe call flash droughts
(21:47):
where we go from having uh, soils
that are not necessarily fully saturated,
but at least to sufficientlywet enough to all
of a sudden being in moderateto have not severe drought.
We had not one, buttwo of those last year.
One happened to occur
during the late springto early summer months.
We broke outta that in late June into
(22:09):
July with plenty of rain.
And then lo and beholdthings turned dry again
by the beginning of September
and thus came a seconddrought which turned into a
hydrologic drought might fallinto the early part of winter,
at least now we're breaking out of that.
But uh, you can also go to our website
and look at soil temperature
and moisture trends datingback several weeks for the 60
(22:32):
or so sites that include that data.
You can even go back forthe last couple of weeks
and see when the, theJanuary fall occurred when
temperatures warm fromall those days we had
that were sub freezing togoing into the forties,
then going into the fifties.
Uh, it was interesting Kristen to note
that soil temperatures at afour inch depth across parts
of the state were hoveringaround 32 degrees as late
(22:54):
as about January 22nd and 23rd.
Well, once we warmed things up,
we saw those soil temperatures,the top soil anyway,
bounce some eight to 10degrees in just one day's time.
So that change was pretty dramatic.
And of course as we get intothe growing season, a lot
of folks like to plant tomatoes.
They're very time sensitive,
very frost sensitive as you know.
(23:16):
So a good way to gauge howthat top soil is trending
with temperatures is throughour website@kymezzat.org.
- Yeah, I know after this winterseason it seems like people
are ready and anxiousto get outside and plant
and tomatoes is that number one vegetable
that everybody likes to plant.
And so when do we generally recommend
(23:37):
for planting tomatoesaccording to that weather?
Like you said for the frost-free dates,
because I know Eastern Kentuckyberries from South Central
even into the western part of the states.
So what do you generally recommend there?
- Well, for northern
and eastern parts of Kentucky,generally you wanna wait
until May.
Usually the, the old adagegoes if you wait till
(23:58):
after Kentucky Derby, whichis the first Saturday of May,
you're generally okay.
And I think the same isalso true for the central
and western regions.
We have four climate divisions by the way,
in the state of Kentucky.
And even though it is warmer in the south
and west generally than it is in the north
and east, we couldstill have those seasons
where we have these late season frosts
(24:21):
that can do damage to tomatoesin anything that is not
as hardy or as frost sensitive.
I go back to four years ago,2020, we had a very warm start
to spring, particularlyduring late March into April.
And then all of a sudden we had frost
and freezing temperatures around May 8th
and ninth, pretty deepinto the month of May
(24:42):
that was damaging to the wheat crop,
which had already beered itout and matured by that point
and damaged or killed any tomatoes
that had been planted by that point.
So slow your hole gardenerswhen it comes to uh,
planting things liketomatoes, squash, zucchini.
I know if we go into these long stretches
where it could be in the seventies
or even the eighties like in March
(25:03):
and April, the temptationis to want to go ahead
and put those into the ground.
But you're never really free of frost
and freeze around here untilI think sometimes into the
second week of May.
That's especially trueover in the northern
and eastern parts of the state.
And by the way, we saw this last year,
although it happened earlier,talked earlier about uh,
the things butting outand leafing out with trees
(25:25):
and vegetation so earlyin the year of 2023.
And all of a sudden herecame the third week of March,
right at the beginningof spring of the 20th,
we had temperatures tumble into the teens.
Into teens that did considerabledamage to fruit crops,
particularly the peach crop last year.
Not just here in Kentucky but also into
portions of the deep south.
(25:45):
So that's one of the trendswe've been noting here in this
decade of the 2020s wherethe winters are warmer,
the growing seasonsoverall are getting longer.
However, you have to bevery careful when it comes
to planting anything frostor free sensitive so soon
because if you get that latein the season where we drop
below 32 degrees
(26:06):
and especially if we dropdown to 28 degrees, that's
what we consider hard freeze territory.
That can be a very damaging to anything
that's frost-free sensitive.
- I believe it was, was it 2007
or 2008 when we hadthat late spring freeze?
'cause it seemed like wehad an earlier Easter.
'cause I can remember beingin my Easter dress
and it was snowing outside
(26:27):
and it seems like wehad that lot of damage
to our landscape trees and
'cause I remember theyjust, they got a lot
of damage from that too.
But with all these datesthat you've mentioned,
I know we've mentioned severaldates throughout the podcast
here, but it seems likehistory has a way of
of repeating itself for sure.
Right?
- It does. And I rememberit was 2007 the year you're
(26:49):
referring to where we hadthe Easter weekend freeze.
That event was particularlysinister for a lot of the plants
and vegetation because itwas one of those years where
we came out of one
of the warmest marches everhere in Kentucky, a lot of days
with highs in the lowto even middle eighties.
And then all of a sudden temperatures
(27:10):
crashed on Easter weekend.
This was well into April.
And then we had not only snow,
but we had temperatures gettingdown into the lower twenties
at a point where a lot ofthe trees had leafed out.
So as a result, a lot of thoseleaves had that singed look.
I remember losingboxwoods in my other home
because of that event
and I think I planted a cherrydogwood tree in my front yard
(27:32):
that did not make it through that event.
It was a young tree at the time.
So that's another example ofone of those late season frost
and freeze occurrences thatwe seem to be getting more
of here in recent years.
- I was gonna say, going backto the tomatoes, I do remember
that occurrence 'cause it'slike people had planted right
after Derby day and thenI remember everybody like
(27:54):
scrounging to get buckets andwhatever to cover it up, up.
So you really need to be on the weather
and it seems like you'vecovered really well
what Kentucky Mez can do
and hopefully our listeners can download
that free downloadable appand put it on their phone
and check, like you said,wherever the nearest location is.
I know you're still, you saidworking on getting things in
(28:14):
the eastern part of the state,
but it's so nice to have thatinformation at our fingertips
and hopefully a lot of ourlisteners can download that.
Shane, I know that youare on social media.
Do you care to share
how we can like followyou on social media? Sure.
- So we have a Facebook pagefor Kentucky Mezzat as well
as uh, what is now x formerly Twitter.
(28:36):
Mm-Hmm
us there for updates.
You can also follow KentuckyClimate Center on, uh,
the X platform.
We post several things throughout the day
and throughout the weekranging from us drought monitor
and that by the way, updatesevery Thursday morning.
The indices for thatare tabulated on Tuesday
(28:57):
and our state climatologist to Dr.
Brodsky is one of those thathelps tabulate those indices.
A lot of that informationcoming from our mezzanine sites
through soil moisture
and all that is fed intothat drought monitor.
So always watch for thatevery, uh, Thursday morning.
We've seen some improvement there lately
(29:18):
with all the rain that we've had.
So we're hoping that themoderate drought condition
that still exists for central
and eastern parts ofthe state is eliminated
with this next update.
But you can check there on social media.
We also repost, uh, informationfrom the National Centers
for Environmental Information as they, uh,
put out some great data
(29:38):
and stats with regardto not just Kentucky,
but the Midwest ClimateRegion, which we fall
underneath the head of
and also the uh, MidwestRegional Climate Center
that's based at PurdueUniversity up in Indiana.
They cover our region as well
and we'd like to repost the things
that they send out on social media.
(29:59):
So several ways you could follow us there.
- Yeah, I know that I enjoy some
of your posts on social mediajust to check out, especially,
it was really comical likeduring the winter season
and I think you all postedlike a real cool bubble
that was in like the cold
and I don't think I'veever witnessed that.
So that was really opening too.
- Yeah, so those frozen bubbles,
(30:19):
that was a couple weeks ago.
We had, uh, one personthere from Taylor County
send us a couple of shots
and that real bitterly cold air,
we had a temperature Sub-Zerocould slowly blow those
bubbles and then wash them freeze.
So that was neat.
We have a picture of the week that we post
to our Facebook page aswell as the Twitter page
through the mezzo net,
(30:41):
so we always get some reallycool submissions that way.
And you can email those to us as well.
My email is shane, SHAEdot hollande@wku.edu
or you can send it to ky mezzat at
wku edu.
- Awesome. I guess my next,
if we have another winterweather event, I'm gonna try
(31:01):
to get my 4-year-old out there
and try to
So Shane, thank you so muchfor coming on the podcast.
You're a wealth of knowledge
and we're so lucky tohave you in our area.
So thanks again for joining us on
the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
- Thank you so much forhaving me, Kristen. Take care.
- Thank you for tuningin to today's episode
of the Sunshine Gardening Podcast.
(31:23):
If you enjoyed the show,make sure to follow me
and leave a review on yourfavorite podcast platform.
I would appreciate yoursupport and feedback.
Also, I wanna extend aspecial thank you to Shane Hoy
for being our guest on theSunshine Gardening Podcast.
To access the show notesfor episode 24 with Shane,
(31:45):
please visit me on the
blog@warrencountyagriculture.com.
Remember, keeping yourselfupdated about the weather
conditions can immensely impactthe success of your garden.
Whether you need to preparefor an unexpected frost
or ensure maximumsunlight for your plants,
being weather-wise is vitalfor a flourishing garden.
(32:09):
Stay tuned for more insightful tips
and discussions to elevateyour gardening game.
Until next time, happy gardening.
- Thanks for listening to theSunshine Gardening Podcast
with Kristen Hildebrand.
If you enjoy today's content, make sure
to hit the subscribe buttonwherever you get your podcast
to catch future segments
(32:29):
of the Sunshine GardeningPodcast gardeners.
Keep on digging and learningmore about gardening
so the sun shines brighterover your Kentucky Garden.
The Sunshine Gardening Podcast
with Kristen Hilderbrand is aproduction of the University
of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service.
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