This might be super stupid but I'm curious about how weather reporting works in the U.S. regarding below freezing point. Do news outlets typically report on days when temperatures drop below freezing, specifically when it hits 32°F or lower? Or is there some other wintery "milestone" they report?
I'm from Finland and temperature dropping below 0°c for the first time in winter is always a "big deal" and heavily reported. Of course 0°c is the freezing point but 0 also is nice and round number and going from +1 to -1 seems bigger drop than from 33 to 31. Reporting about random number like 32°f seems kinda weird but since that's the freezing point, surely it must be locally reported?
Thank you and sorry if this is odd thing to ask 😀
49 comments
Nope, it’s just reported the same as any other daily temperature
First frost is always widely reported on because people’s outdoor plants will die unless they’re harvested or you put a blanket over it, but freezing isn’t really a big deal
Because we’re not equipped to deal with icy roads down here. They’ll warn of that and a bigger deal down here in the Deep South than they would up north. But it’s not like a huge deal
In regions where wintery weather is common this is not a significant issue to be reported.
But in areas of the southern US where winters are not typically that cold it could be a headline.
I think they report the first snow, but I don’t live in a state with consistent winter weather. So I imagine it’s dependent on broadcast area
Where I live, the only reason to make a big deal about it is if it’s early in the season and might affect people’s plants. In that case there’ll be a frost/freeze warning. Otherwise there *might* be a mention of “the first freeze of the season” in passing during the weather report, but it’ll be at most a single sentence with no particular emphasis.
Not really. The closest we may get to this is when your area is issued a freeze warning which is issued when your area drops below freezing for the first time in the season. After that its really not a big deal as most areas of the US sees temps <32F to some degree during the winter.
I live in a northern state with long winters. Yes, it’ll definitely be reported. Especially the first frost, reminding people to cover sensitive plants or to leave early in the morning etc.
It’s not really a big deal here but in Florida, it would be.
https://www.weather.gov/lwx/WarningsDefined – here’s a list of the kinds of weather we alert for. our weather varies a great deal in the US, so what alerts people get notified of & how much it matters to them depends on location.
the alert you’re describing from Finland might be comparable to a frost advisory from the NWS: “A Frost Advisory is issued when the minimum temperature is forecast to be 33 to 36 degrees on clear and calm nights during the growing season.”
>Reporting about random number like 32°f seems kinda weird
32°F isn’t random to us bc we know it’s the freezing point
I live in a sub-tropical zone so if the temp drops to or below freezing, it’s a big deal and heavily reported with advisories. We’ll typically see instructions for insulating outdoor plants and trickling water from indoor faucets (to keep pipes from freezing and things like that.
If the weather was below freezing where I live it would likely be news worthy. Mostly because it rarely happens where I live. A couple of years ago I remember Christmas morning was just about freezing and it was the first time in a long time. Especially that early. It’s usually cooler in January or February. But it definitely made the local news.
Edit: I remember it was 29 I believe on Christmas morning. I was standing next to a lady who was wearing a long puffy trench coat on the beach. She was from New York and was telling someone to imagine this, only almost every day for a few months.
Surfing Santa’s was very different that year. The water was still around 58 though. So everyone was excited to just get in the water.
It depends on the area. My area yes, if it is an unexpected cold front moving in. We a lot of agriculture and livestock that will either need special machinery turned on or to be moved closer or indoors. If it gets close to freezing or freezing someone in my family has to go turn on heaters and wing machines to protect crops.
I mean they’ll tell you on the news so if by report you mean “do they speak of it” and yeah, during the weather report they do (or if it’s bitterly cold, like cold enough to kill you they’ll have segments on frost bite or announce where warming centers on the news usually.) But if by report you mean do they make it a huge deal each time? Then the answer is no, it’s just like any weather unless it’s extremes and even then it’s just something they talk about, not anything big (but then again that might just be my state, or probably a few of the other quite cold states).
For just below 32 (say, 30) though that’s not really a big deal here unless you don’t have access to shelter, it’s just any old winter day, wear your layers and go about your day etc. The cold most people would consider a really important topic we need to warn each other about is more like 10, or to the negatives, when fear of really quick frostbite is a thing and wind chill makes it worse. In these temps it’s not like we all panic and freeze to death or anything but there are more precautions to take, properly dressing, not standing at bus stops for kids if you can help it, don’t spend too much time outside if you can help it etc
The first frost is noted, but I wouldn’t say it’s a big deal. In my area, it usually occurs in late October.
If it happens unusually early or late, there’d probably be more news about it.
Yes because in the state of Georgia, if the temperature goes below freezing it’s a big deal since it’s uncommon to happen. Others from other southern states are going to say the same. We don’t handle ice on the roads well here. Most people don’t have proper winter clothes to handle below freezing temps for an extended period of time.
I wouldn’t call it a big deal, but it’s definitely highlighted in the weather reporting. Frost or freeze temps are a point of emphasis as road surfaces can be slippery especially on bridges, and also for the impact on plants.
If it happens here? Absolutely. We are tropical and have plants and people not at all prepared for those temperatures. Those temps don’t really happen for us except rarely and usually just for a day.
I’ve lived both where it gets very cold (Chicago) and where it generally does not (south Texas). In both places the weather people always talk about the first frost and much of that is around how to prepare for it.
In Chicago it’s more of a reminder but in Texas it’s more like training because Texans are just not used to cold weather.
And if it’s going to be especially cold, it’s like a hurricane is coming, lol. But “especially cold” means different things in Chicago vs. Texas!
Nope. It’s not a big deal in Minnesota because we have a lot of freezing temperatures.
It depends on the region. In North Dakota, they may not report on 32F since it consistently drops below 0F or -18C. They’ll almost certainly let you know when it’ll drop to -32F, or -35C.
In southern Florida, I imagine it’s a big deal if it gets to 32F.
Yes, but it’s just part of the daily weather forecast.
They do in Florida, because it’s kind of rare.
News may mention it when it first happens in a season, so people know to take precautions about outdoor plants that are sensitive to freezing temperatures and to be mindful of possible frost on windows in the morning (like getting ready for work in the next morning).
The National Weather Service will issue a Freeze Warning in such a situation, which will be covered in the weather coverage in the news and people may get through other means like phone apps (if they have a weather app on their phone).
It’s part of the regular weather report. We get below freezing every winter. Wouldn’t be a big deal here.
Depends on where you live. When I was in S. Louisiana, every single drop below 32 was a BIG deal. I would imagine in someplace like Wisconsin or Montana, not so much, lol. Time will tell how the news is gonna treat it now that I’m farther north, but still in the South (just moved to TN).
it’s usually mentioned here but that’s because freezing temps aren’t super common here. our coldest month is January and the average low temperature is above freezing. so we aren’t really accustomed to freezing weather and icy conditions so when we do go below freezing, news usually warms people so they’ll know about potential ice on roads (we don’t have salt trucks or snow plows here because of how rarely it snows).
Colorado here. First frost, yes, so you know to bring in your outside potted plants and harvest your outside in-ground plants. After that, the other 100+ days it dips below freezing overnight, nobody really cares. That’s just winter. It’s a bigger deal when it stays before freezing all day because that’s very rare here with the sun/altitude combo. Those days get reported on every time.
And you’re +1 to -1 feels like a bigger drop than our 33 to 31 because it *is* a bigger drop. Celsius is a lower fidelity temperature measurement than Fahrenheit. 1 C is 33.8 F and -1 C is 30.2 F, so a 2 degree drop for you is a 3.6 degree drop for us.
I don’t think my area usually gets any kind of special report unless it’s single digits or if the wind chill is particularly bad. Low temperatures are fairly common (less so in recent years, unfortunately), so it has to be something out of the norm for them to say something.
Depends on where you are in the US. Up north where it’s colder they’ll make note of when it first starts to get cold but no one is surprised by it. But down south if it hits freezing society tends to kind of screech to a halt because they have no adaptations for cold. So it gets much more coverage because it’s an unusual event.
Saying this as someone from the north who moved to Texas just in time for the entire state to freeze over and lose power.
If you live in an area that regularly gets below freezing you do kind of keep it in mind though. But it’s when temps get below 0 F that people really start to pay attention.
Unless it was unusually low for the time of year or the region it would not get reported on more than normal weather. Maybe a mention of taking extra care for outdoor plants or animals.
Generally temperatures are not dropping from 33 to 31 and getting reports. They are going from 50’s or 40’s to low 30’s and there is a difference. If the daytime temperatures will only be in the 30’s there will be more to say about it.
I wouldn’t say heavily reported but news broadcasts will mention that we’re getting or could get the first freeze of the season and there will be small articles in local news sites like [this](https://bringmethenews.com/minnesota-weather/here-comes-the-first-frost-for-minnesota-but-summer-will-return-with-vengeance) which is from my state, Minnesota. For northern or states where they have cold winters, getting below freezing isn’t a big deal when we’re getting into fall because it’s expected climate wise. In some more southern states though getting below freezing or having a frost warning can be more of an event. For most folks frost warning is more to remind you to bring any plants in that can’t handle that.
Comments keep saying it’s not a big deal, which is true, in a sense. We don’t go all chicken little and we don’t have newspaper headlines about it.
But as for using it as a reference point, yes. The weather reporter will talk about the temperature dipping below 32, or say something like “it will be about 33-34, just hovering right above freezing point…”
Everybody over the age of 5 or so is aware that 32 is freezing point. So they might say “temperatures are forecast to get down to 31 tonight, so we will have a light frost,” without specifically mentioning that 32 is the freezing point, because people just know that.
I’d compare it to body temperature. You can tell someone a temperature and they should know how severe a fever is without you having to specifically say “that’s one degree above normal” or something.
Only if it is unseasonable for it to be that cold (earlier than November or later than March).
Last year, Halloween was uncommonly cold across the US, particularly in the Midwest. The highs and lows were both 20 degrees below normal, and a freeze warning was issued. Typical low in St. Louis, where I was, was mid-40s, but at that time we dipped into the low-20s.
Down here if precipitation is expected and freezing temperatures it will be all over the news. It just doesn’t make sense to invest in the machinery to salt all the roads and people aren’t used to driving with ice.
Yes. It is known as a freeze warning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freeze_warning
Some US cities have special laws that will open up more temporary homeless shelters for people, and the police may have special authority to put homeless people into these temporary shelters for their own safety.
The “First Freeze” is a big deal mostly for gardeners so they can go get their stuff inside.
[We](https://www.usclimatedata.com/climate/minneapolis/minnesota/united-states/usmn0503) have 152 days per year (5 Nov to 5 Apr) where the average low temp falls below freezing. And 86 days (2 Dec to 25 Feb) where the daily high temp never reaches freezing. So the First Frost is more dreaded as a “welp, here we go” thing.
I have no idea how it’s reported on. But 32 is seen as just as significant to us as 0 is to you
I’m sure it seems weird to you to have a bunch of meteorologists saying “the temperature has gone from 33 to 32”
But here that is very normal. Every kid here learns that 32 Fahrenheit is freezing. It’s super ingrained in our concept of temperature.
Yes local news will put out a freeze warning.
But remember, the USA is about 29 times larger than Finland. So freezing temperatures are only reported locally.
It’s already happened where I live: we had a morning last month below freezing.
If it’s relatively early, yes, they’ll warn us on the news so people can protect their gardens.
Fwiw, I seem to recall that 0F is approximately when salt water freezes, so, not completely random. I think 100F was set to be, essentially “hot as fuck” from a comfort point of view.
> Do news outlets report when temperatures drop below freezing (32°F)?
“News” is just that – new information.
In the fall, when it starts getting cold, we’ll get some warnings about the first frost and things like that. The weatherman will make a comment about covering up plants or something. The first actual day below freezing… The first snow… Those all get commented on.
But where I live it’ll be cold for several months. Below freezing gets to be normal after a while. The weather still reports the temperature… The high and low for the day… But they stop pointing out that it’s going to be below freezing when you haven’t seen double-digits for a couple weeks.
It is definitely a “milestone”, but it’s not typically a major news story. The only time it is a big deal is when it happens earlier than expected, because frost can damage crops and decorative plants. In that case, the national weather service may issue a “frost warning” that specifically focuses on threats to plants.
Here in Tampa FL, if the temp goes to 32 it’s getting reported, maybe nationally. In Bozeman MT, it’s Monday.
I live in an area agriculture is big so the first freeze does get some attention. In fact the local meteorologists have started to inform people on the average on when the forst freeze happens.
In Arizona the news will cover it as people’s planes and pipes can freeze if not covered but that’s usually an overnight occurrence.
Here in Georgia it is, but that’s because we get like 2 weeks total where the temp drops below freezing.
It is discussed for the weather. Yes the first frost and first freezes are important for gardeners, farmers, and businesses that keep plants. My university in CA would put covering over their plants when freezes were in the forecast.
They usually would get 2-5 per year. In more northern climates like my current one, this isn’t done at the end of the season because it freezes all the time with snow so there’s no point.
The main thing is if there is a frost or a freeze during the growing season. The first frost or freeze is also issued by our weather service. Of course people watch or follow weather forecasts too.
A lot of local news channels have regular weather report segments. I think a bigger deal is made over big storms like blizzards and hurricanes and extreme temperatures (single digits or triple digits).
Yes, often with tips about how to protect your plants.