By BECKY KISER
Hays Post

Winter solstice isn’t until December 21, but the first freeze of the season has already occurred in Hays.

Tuesday night, Oct. 10, the overnight low dropped to 30 degrees.

According to Joe Becker, keeper of the official weather statistics at the K-State Agricultural Research Center just south of Hays, there have been 163 frost free days so far in 2017. In 2016, the total number of frost free days was 178 days.

The average for Hays is 170 frost free days, generally between April 27 and October 14.

It was a warm year in 1901 with just 114 frost free days. The most frost free days were in 1998 at 203.

Thursday’s overnight low in Hays was considerably warmer than Tuesday’s at 52 degrees. The daytime high Oct. 12 was 84 degrees.