The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning at 12:32 p.m. on Thursday valid for Friday between 3 a.m. and 8 a.m. for Marion, Lamar, Fayette, Winston, Walker, Blount, Etowah, Calhoun, Cherokee, Cleburne, St. Clair, Talladega, Clay and Randolph counties.

The weather service comments, “Sub-freezing temperatures as low as 30 degrees expected.”

“Gusty winds will blow around unsecured objects. Trees could be blown down and a few power outages may result. Frost and freeze conditions could kill crops, other sensitive vegetation and possibly damage unprotected outdoor plumbing,” states the weather service. “Take steps now to protect tender plants from the cold. To prevent freezing and possible bursting of pipes they should be wrapped, drained, or allowed to drip slowly. Those that have in ground sprinkler systems should drain them and cover above ground pipes to protect them from freezing. Winds this strong can make driving difficult, especially for high profile vehicles. Use extra caution. Secure outdoor objects.”

Freeze watch or warning – this is what it means

Freeze warnings are issued from May to October (but can be extended if necessary), when low temperatures are expected to be 29-32 degrees. If there is a potential for temperatures to fall into these thresholds, a freeze watch may be issued a few days ahead of time.

According to the weather service, if a freeze warning or watch is issued for your area, there is little you can do to protect plants. If you can move your sensitive plants inside, do so because the freeze will likely kill them, depending on the severity of conditions.

Advance Local Weather Alerts is a service provided by United Robots, which uses machine learning to compile the latest data from the National Weather Service.