Environment

NWS: Riverhead farms should brace for freezing temps

BARBARAELLEN KOCH FILE PHOTO | Farm workers harvesting spinach at Bayview Farm on the Main Road in Aquebogue in 2010.
Farm workers harvesting spinach at Bayview Farm on the Main Road in Aquebogue in 2010. (Credit: Barbaraellen Koch, file)

The National Weather Service has issued a Freeze Warning for the East End early Friday morning between  3 and 9 a.m., saying residents should expect temperatures in the mid- to upper-20s near the Pine Barrens.

Freeze conditions will start to sweep across the area Thursday night, the warning states, and hit the western area of Riverhead near the Pine Barrens the hardest. Locations on the North Fork from Southold to Orient Point should remain above freezing, weather experts said.

“These conditions will kill crops and other sensitive vegetation,” according to a NWS weather alert.

Temperatures will dip into the lower 30s elsewhere, officials said.

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