Frost possible in parts of central North Carolina tonight

A frost advisory has been issued for most of central North Carolina tonight. With dry air, clear skies and light winds, temperatures will drop into the low to mid 30s in many areas tonight, giving us a chance for some patchy frost.

Bring in or cover up your sensitive plants to be safe.

So what causes frost? Frost forms when an outside surface like grass or a car cools to the dew point. The dew point is the temperature at which condensation occurs.

If it gets cold enough, little bits of ice form - or frost. True frost forms when the temperature is at or below freezing. The moisture goes from a gas to a solid...called deposition. If the moisture goes from gas to liquid and then to a solid, the result is called frozen dew.

We are forecasting above freezing temperatures tonight, so how do we get frost then?

On clear, calm nights, cool dense air settles to ground level and can reach 32 degrees or lower, while the temperature at thermometer level (5 to 6 feet) can be much warmer. Sometimes as warm as 35 to even 38 degrees!

Counties included in advisory: Person, Granville, Vance, Warren, Halifax, Forsyth, Guilford, Alamance, Orange, Durham, Franklin, Nash, Edgecombe, Davidson, Randolph, Chatham, Wake, Johnston, Wilson Stanly, Montgomery, Moore, Lee, Harnett, Anson, Richmond, Scotland and Hoke