FAIRHOPE, Ala. — It’s likely many living along the Alabama coast thought there were a few more beach weekends left on the calendar before a sudden blast of cold weather seemed to ruin all that. But, meteorologists say the atmospheric conditions that brought frost and freezing temperatures to the area are easing a bit so there might be a few more chances to slip on a bikini, smear on some sunscreen and enjoy a day on the sand.

Keith Williams, a forecaster with the National Weather Service in Mobile, said the sudden cold is certainly not the norm.

“We usually don’t have our first frost in the area until the end of November,” he said. Williams added the last time cold weather crept in this early was 1957. In fact, the Tuesday/Wednesday overnight low of 32 degrees in Mobile beat the previous record of 33 degrees set in 1873.

There’s a reason for the unexpected need to don our winter coats. Williams said, “We’ve been fairly dry the last couple of weeks. A dry air mass has a tendency not to be able to hold heat. We’ve also had high pressure over us and high winds. And the jet stream dropped down farther south than normal this time of year.”

NWS is projecting a return to normal daytime highs of around 76 today and Sunday, but Williams said we can expect the lows to remain unseasonable — hovering in the mid 40s to near 50 degrees as a chance of rain emerges late tomorrow.

A 30-day projection issued by weather officials suggests this is not an indicator of a harsher than normal winter. Williams said, “The November through January outlook puts us at normal, but we’ll see what happens next month.”

Meanwhile, this early chill should certainly serve as a reminder to prepare outdoor plants and trees for the winter ahead. Monte Nesbitt, an Auburn University research horticulturist assigned to the school’s Gulf Coast Research Center in Fairhope, pointed out that so far, “It hasn’t been cold enough to scare us much. We kind of take it one day at a time.”

The university substation on Alabama Highway 104 has many acres of fruit trees, all of which are prone to fall victim to bone-chilling temperatures. Nesbitt said, “With citrus, you always start to get a watchful eye when you get these frosts and freezes, but it needs to get much colder to do any harm.”

He said pecans will be safe in their shell until temps dip well below freezing, but citrus fruit is more susceptible to the cold. Nesbitt said hanging fruit is damaged when the mercury dips to 26 degrees, and the tree is killed at 20 degrees if not protected.

“If we get a frost and freeze (at the research center), it would accelerate the harvest,” he said. “But oranges and grapefruit need to be on the tree as long as possible.”

Nesbitt said Auburn researchers use a sprinkler system to protect the fruit trees there if area temperatures are expected to fall to 26 or below.

The water freezes on the trees, offering them a blanket of protection. He noted, however, that the ice does not serve as a blanket in the conventional sense.

“That’s a misconception. Ice is a poor insulator,” Nesbitt said. “Water releases energy in the form of heat as it goes from a liquid to a sold. It’s the process of physics, and it works quite effectively.”

Turning on the sprinklers works just as well for other small trees and garden vegetables, and much is known about the flow rate and the proximity needed to best protect the plants and trees Auburn uses for research. He said, “There’s a lot of technology that goes into that approach.”

For those who don’t see an irrigation system as a practical method to use in their own backyard, Nesbitt said there are other, less expensive options.

The first order of business is to make a plan. He said one should know when a hard freeze is approaching and have the materials on hand to deal with it.

It’s not enough to simply cover a tree’s canopy with plastic to prevent frost from reaching its branches. Nesbitt said the real damage is done when the trunk is left unprotected. He suggested burying the base of the tree in a mound of dirt to hold in heat.

“Soil transfers heat from the soil around it,” Nesbitt said. “Other materials rely on their insulating value. Pine straw is not that great.”

If insulation of some other type is preferred, it’s best to use commercial materials with a measurable R-value, he said. Among those are water heater wrap, water pipe insulation, or a specially made tree trunk wrap containing antifreeze.

“Trees on the south side of a house fare better in the winter,” Nesbitt said. “Trees that go dormant, or those that maintain some of their leaves like live oaks fare better.”

He also recommended placing small potted plants that must remain outside under a tree because the canopy reflects heat, adding that even if temperatures seem relatively favorable, frost can do much damage to a plant.

“Start planning out what you’re going to do,” Nesbitt said. “We may have only a couple of days to prepare.”