It's in the books, our first freeze of the year was recorded over much of the area. The low this morning in Jackson was 32 degrees. This is our earliest freeze in 6 years. In the years 2002-2006 our first freeze occurred no earlier than November 17th with our first freeze in 2004 recorded on December 3rd. In 2001 our first freeze was on October 29th. Our average first freeze is November 9th. Some stats for you. Over the last 10 years 6 of 10 first freezes were after the 9th of November. Over the last 20 years, 12 of 20 first freezes were after the average. Nothing too far out of the ordinary there.

The average is a climatic average over the last 30years. It is the date over those 30 years that is the statistical average date for a first freeze. Right now the data for calculating the average is from the period 1970-2000. If my memory serves me correctly, the average first freeze for the period 1960-1990 was around November 3rd.

There is now question when you look at the weather data over the last 30-40 years that the cold weather season is shorter here in Mississippi than it used to be pre 1950. Is that global warming? You can really make a positive correlation to that data but it certainly can be argued!