Environment Canada has issued a frost advisory for parts of the region, including the Chatham and London areas, as well as Midwestern Ontario.
The advisories are in effect for London and Middlesex County, Elgin County, Oxford County, Huron County, Perth County, Grey County, Bruce County, and Chatham-Kent.
The weather agency said patchy frost is possible early Friday morning as temperatures fall near the freezing mark.
The frost may damage frost-sensitive fruit trees and vegetable plants, according to Environment Canada.
The weather agency is encouraging people to take preventative measures to protect frost-sensitive plants and trees by covering up plants, especially those in frost-prone areas.
Meteorologist Peter Kimbell said it's strange to have frost so late in the Spring, but not unusual. Kimbell noted the record low for early morning May 31st was 2.8 Celsius, set in 1897, and we are flirting with a new cold temperature record early Friday morning.
"We have had these cold temperatures before. We had cool temperatures end of May 2021 and 1897. Even colder than that in early June, June 11th the record was minus .6 in 1972," said Kimbell.
Kimbell said we can blame northern Ontario for the cold Friday morning.
"It's a very dry air mass that has been swept southward from northern Ontario over southern Ontario and is currently coinciding with a ridge of high pressure, allowing temperatures to cool even further under clear skies overnight, radiating basically to the dew temperature," he said.
Kimbell said it looks like this is it for the frost advisories until later this Fall with a warm up in store beginning later on Friday.
The Kent Federation of Agriculture (KFA) said the big concern is transplanted vegetable crops like tomatoes. New KFA President Bard Snobelen noted if they get hit with frost, they will likely have to be replanted , which is costly and time consuming.
Snobelen also said the major concern is the length of time that the temperature will be in the frost zone.
"The longer it stays cold, the more damage that will be done," he said. "Corn and soybeans should be okay provided that the cold doesn't last too long."