Hollister
– There’s more chilly weather on the horizon for San Benito
residents – possibly the coldest temperatures of the winter.
Hollister – There’s more chilly weather on the horizon for San Benito residents – possibly the coldest temperatures of the winter.
“It’s going to be darn cold,” National Weather Service forecaster Diana Henderson said.
Henderson said temperatures are going to start dropping when a cold front moves in on Thursday. The NWS forecasts that the low for early Friday morning is expected to be 31 degrees. The temperature will fall to 26 degrees on Saturday morning, then start warming again, to lows of 28 degrees on Sunday and 32 degrees on Monday. Daytime highs are expected to be in the low 50s.
“Once the clouds go away on Thursday, there’s going to be nothing to hold any residual heat,” Henderson said.
NWS forecaster Steve Anderson said the winter’s previous low was on Dec. 19, when temperatures dropped to 27 degrees, so “chances are good” that the county is heading into the coldest nights of the season.
Cold weather can be bad news for plants and animals, but Hollister resident Claudia Olson said she has a simple strategy: watering her lawn.
“Everything is good so far,” Olson said. “I keep going outside and thinking that something is going to start dying. … But so far, so good.”
Olson’s habit of watering her plants at night – before things get really cold – has earned her some puzzled questions from her son-in-law.
“He wondered what I was doing out there,” Olson said.
But Charlie YaQub, garden manager at Hollister Landscape Supply, said Olson is actually doing the right thing.
“Some people don’t believe it, but watering your plants actually protects them from the frost,” YaQub said.
YaQub said homeowners should spray both the plants and the ground surrounding them.
“Frost occurs when there’s no moisture, and the air is really still,” YaQub said. “You should just take your hose and hit everything.”
According to YaQub, some plants – such as roses and apple trees – actually benefit from cold weather, as long as the freezing temperatures aren’t too severe or too prolonged.
And even plants that look like they’re suffering from “frostburn” may still be alive, he said. Owners can check this by scraping away the dead, brown part of the plant and looking for green underneath.
The plants that might have more trouble, YaQub said, are tropical plants such as hibiscus. YaQub has to deal with this problem in his own garden, where he grows bougainvillea. However, he combats the cold using his own advice – watering everything.
There’s still some frostburn, he said, but the water saves the plant.
“When the time is right (in the spring), I’m going to cut real low, and the new growth will bloom,” YaQub said.
Sergio Garcia, a farm adviser with the local University of California cooperative extension, said owners of animals – whether the animals in question are livestock like cows or smaller pets like dogs – should also take precautions when the weather drops below freezing. However, he noted that San Benito residents won’t have to worry about anything similar to recent cow deaths in Colorado and elsewhere.
“California weather is not as severe as the weather in Colorado,” Garcia said. “Normally, we don’t have any problems.”
Anthony Ha covers local government for the Free Lance. Reach him at 831-637-5566 ext. 330 or [email protected].
