A frost advisory tonight has many strawberry farmers keeping a close watch on their crops.
Temperatures tonight for much of Eastern Carolina could dip into the mid to upper 30's from 2:00 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. The National Weather Service says sensitive outdoor plants could be killed if left uncovered.
At Gardner Farms in Newport the strawberry crop is about a week early because of the warm weather. Clayton Gardner says they are going to keep an eye on the frost tonight and protect the crop as needed. That would include spraying the berries, which would put a thin insulator of ice on them.
Gardner says it looks like this season will be longer than ones in recent years. He says if everything continues like it is now, the strawberries will be ripe for picking in about 10 days. Already Gardner Farms is getting ready to sell asparagus this weekend.
