The National Weather Service issued a freeze warning at 6:26 p.m. Sunday that is in effect for central Oregon from 11 p.m. through 9 a.m. Monday.

“Minimum temperatures of up to 27 degrees are expected,” the weather service said. “Areas of subfreezing temperatures are expected in cold-prone locations across Central Oregon overnight into Monday morning.”

“Frost and freeze could destroy crops and other sensitive vegetation and potentially damage unprotected outdoor plumbing,” the weather service explains. “Take steps now to protect sensitive plants from the cold.”

Stopwatch or warning – that’s what it means

Frost warnings are issued from May to October (but can be extended if necessary) when minimum temperatures of 29 to 32 degrees are expected. If there is a chance that temperatures could fall below these limits, a frost warning may be issued a few days in advance.

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

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