hard freeze
Prolonged severe frost
A hard freeze is a period of cold weather when temperatures drop well below freezing—typically to 28°F (-2°C) or lower—for several hours.
The term distinguishes dangerous cold that kills plants and damages pipes from a light frost that only nips tender foliage: Cover your citrus trees before the hard freeze hits.
Meteorologists issue hard freeze warnings when such conditions threaten.
Cracked water lines
- black iceInvisible frozen road surface
- slippery roadsSurfaces lacking traction
- power outageLoss of electrical supply
- heating failureLoss of warmth production
ice dam · crack · brittle · spalling · road salt · fender bender · school closure · water main break
Below the freezing point
- frigidExtremely and intensely cold
- arcticOf extreme northern cold
- polarOf extreme latitudes
- bitterSharp, unpleasant taste
glacial · gelid · nippy · cold snap · below zero · ice storm · frost · windchill
Dangerously low body temperature
- shiverInvoluntary trembling sensation
- numbLacking physical sensation
- chilblainsCold-induced skin inflammation
- cold exposureContact with low temperatures
wind chill · layering · core temperature · extremities · circulation · rewarming · tissue damage
Harm from ice formation
- crop lossDestroyed agricultural output
- tender plantsVegetation damaged by cold
- orchardFruit tree plantation
- vineyardGrape-growing estate
kill · overwinter · dormancy · mulching · cold frame · perennial · annual · citrus
burst pipes
Cracked water lines
- black iceInvisible frozen road surface
- slippery roadsSurfaces lacking traction
- power outageLoss of electrical supply
heating failure · ice dam · crack · brittle · spalling · road salt · fender bender · school closure · water main break · tree limb
subzero
Below the freezing point
bitter · glacial · gelid · nippy · cold snap · below zero · ice storm · frost · windchill · temperature drop
hypothermia
Dangerously low body temperature
- shiverInvoluntary trembling sensation
- numbLacking physical sensation
- chilblainsCold-induced skin inflammation
cold exposure · wind chill · layering · core temperature · extremities · circulation · rewarming · tissue damage
frost damage
Harm from ice formation
- crop lossDestroyed agricultural output
- tender plantsVegetation damaged by cold
- orchardFruit tree plantation
vineyard · kill · overwinter · dormancy · mulching · cold frame · perennial · annual · citrus · growing season
- cold snapscold snap, cold front, frost, cold spell, arctic blast
- frozen thingsice cube, ice cubes, ice block, ice blocks, icicle
- northern weatherblizzard, blizzards, snowfall, cold snap, cold
- Farming Weatherfrost, drought, hail, rainfall, growing season
- weatherweather, rain, sun, snow, wind
- cold weathercold, frigid, bitter cold, cold snap, cold wave
hard freezelight frost
Thin ice crystal layer
touch of frost · frost advisory · thaw · frost nip · warm spell
hard freezeheat wave
Extended extreme warmth
scorching heat · hot spell · mild weather · sweltering · sweltering heat
hard, freeze, harder, hardest, harden, hardened, hardening, hardness, hardy