Abstract
ABSTRACT Spring frosts are of significant concern to growers of many fruit-bearing horticultural crops such as winegrapes. In many regions of the continental United States, winegrape crops are in danger of reduction or total loss every year. Inexperienced growers are often ignorant of the potential economic ramifications that spring frosts can incur. A new index, the frost index (FI), is proposed to aid growers in choosing sites where risk of damaging spring frost is minimized. The FI presents an improvement over current frost indices because it not only accounts for temperature but frost risk period and total number of frost events. A variation of FI for assessing cultivar risk at a specific site is also presented. The FI can be adjusted for any growing location, depending on timing of frost risk and budbreak. FI allows growers to make interpretations of frost risk potential with greater precision than current indices.
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