Kevin Myatt is The Roanoke Times' weather columnist.

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You may have noticed that many counties in North Carolina were placed under freeze watches and warnings Tuesday night and this morning, but counties in Virginia and West Virginia were not even though lower temperatures were forecast.

The National Weather Service only issues frost and freeze advisories at two times of year: when freezing temperatures threaten to end the growing season in the fall and when freezing temperatures threaten to delay or interrupt the growing season in the spring.

Because Southwest Virginia is not yet past its long-term average for the last freeze of the spring, which is typically from mid- to late April in most locations, the growing season is not yet considered to have begun. Therefore, frost and freeze advisories are not issued.

Most of North Carolina, meanwhile, has passed its typical date for the season's latest freeze, so frosts and freezes in early April are considered to have potential to disrupt the growing season. That's why freeze watches were issued down there, but not up here.

Whether it actually got below freezing this morning in your back yard depended on whether or not winds and clouds broke off in time to allow temperatures to dip that far.

Certainly, the New River Valley and points west are likely to be below freezing this morning. The Roanoke Valley and points east could be more borderline.

Whether there was a freeze or not, any threats of below-freezing temperatures that may occur next week and later will be eligible to trigger watches and warnings for parts of Southwest Virginia.