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Freezing... is wind chill a factor?
- Thread starter Slimbob
- Start date
millworkman
Extreme Member
Should be fine. Chilis are a lot more resilient than people think. 37f should be just fine.
No expert here but just last week I was out of town and we had a cold snap and lows were down to around 35 degrees for a couple of nights in a row. I had two chili plants I wanted to dig up and save (overwinter) I got them both after the frost and brought them inside for the past week and have seen no damage to them. The chili plants that I don't plan to save are still in the ground outside and show no signs from frost damage either. I believe you will be ok.
From the NOAH NWS website.
"12. Does wind chill only apply to people and animals?
Yes. The only effect wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as car radiators and water pipes, is to more quickly cool the object to cool to the current air temperature. Object will NOT cool below the actual air temperature. For example, if the temperature outside is -5 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill temperature is -31 degrees Fahrenheit, then your car's radiator will not drop lower than -5 degrees F."
edit: here's the link: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/windchill/windchillglossary.shtml
"12. Does wind chill only apply to people and animals?
Yes. The only effect wind chill has on inanimate objects, such as car radiators and water pipes, is to more quickly cool the object to cool to the current air temperature. Object will NOT cool below the actual air temperature. For example, if the temperature outside is -5 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind chill temperature is -31 degrees Fahrenheit, then your car's radiator will not drop lower than -5 degrees F."
edit: here's the link: http://www.nws.noaa.gov/os/windchill/windchillglossary.shtml
The wind chill temperature is how cold people and animals feel when outside. Windchill is based on the rate of heat loss from exposed skin caused by wind and cold. As the wind increases, it draws heat from the body, driving down skin temperature and eventually the internal body temperature. Therefore, the wind makes it FEEL much colder. If the temperature is 0 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind is blowing at 15 mph, the wind chill is -19 degrees Fahrenheit. At this wind chill temperature, exposed skin can freeze in 30 minutes.
Since Pepper plants are not warm blooded, and have no internal body heat, there can be no heat loss due to wind.
Since Pepper plants are not warm blooded, and have no internal body heat, there can be no heat loss due to wind.
Isn't this just about the same as with your vehicle's outside temperature reading?
Let's say it says it's 40° outside but still reads 40° when your driving down the road at 80 mph...oops..meant 55.
Even with in a sense an 80 mph wind, it still says 40°.
Windchill affects everything the same way, humans just care more because we're fragile little bags of water.
If the windchill takes it to 10 degrees below freezing but the actual temperature is 1 degree above freezing, you'll never get ice forming in your flesh or plants. You'll just lose heat at the same speed as if it were the lower temperature, right up until you hit the actual ambient temperature.
This is because with no wind, you'd create a small little 'bubble' of warmer air around you. The wind blows this heated air away from you so that you're always in contact with cold air.
If the windchill takes it to 10 degrees below freezing but the actual temperature is 1 degree above freezing, you'll never get ice forming in your flesh or plants. You'll just lose heat at the same speed as if it were the lower temperature, right up until you hit the actual ambient temperature.
This is because with no wind, you'd create a small little 'bubble' of warmer air around you. The wind blows this heated air away from you so that you're always in contact with cold air.
Frost warnings raise concerns around here. A small amount of freezer burn will do the plants in. I just brought a couple of Tepins into the garage. I haven't had time to overwinter them yet, but they've made it through a couple of bone chilling nights. The plants have woody stems and the leaves are as small as the "pea pod" chili's with no visual damage. Now on the other hand, or shall I say the other part of the garden where theres a wind break, the plants that are still in have suffered the bite of frost...They will get yanked out when we have this weekends heat wave of 50 deg. Then I can wrap up the season......outside
I live in the agricultural section of Kern county and there are huge amonts of orange trees here. We ocasionally get sub freezing weather here and the farmers use huge fans to circulate the air to prevent frost damage to the orange crop . So I am guessing that a light breerze would actually help prevent damage to your plants