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From hurricanes to first frost.

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You have weather questions?

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And lead meteorologist
Ken Mahan has answers.

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Hi, I'm lead meteorologist
Ken Mahan answering your questions.

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Today we're tackling
first frost, wildfires and hurricanes.

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This is weather mailbag.

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James in Westborough wants to know,

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is New England seeing more wildfire
smoke than ever before?

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Yes we are.

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The simple explanation
is that there are nearly double

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the amount of wildfires
over the last 50 years.

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The smoke rises
and gets pulled into the jet stream

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and then into our region, sometimes
traveling more than thousands of miles

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and tiny microscale factors determining
whether you smell it or not.

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Is there a high or low pressure present?

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Is the air warmer or cooler?

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These weather parameters play a role,
and if the smoke reaches us,

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but most of the time it stays elevated
high in the sky.

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Jesse in Ashland asked when do we
typically see the first frost in Boston?

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Well, let's start with the basics.

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Meteorologists define the first frost
as the first overnight

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temperature
to fall to or below 32 degrees.

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Also known as the freezing mark
for the Boston area,

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that usually happens on average around
November 5th for northern New England.

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Around the first two weeks of October
in southern New England, by Halloween

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and by the Cape
in the south shore of New England.

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Usually you hit the freezing mark
by mid November.

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However, with climate change,
eight of the last ten years has seen

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the first frost much later.

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So right now it seems like the first frost
will be later rather than sooner.

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Finally, Randy in Falmouth

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wanted to know about hurricanes
and when we could see one in New England.

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New England

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hasn't seen a landfalling hurricanes
since the infamous hurricane Bob in 1991.

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Historically, New England usually sees
a hurricane every decade or so.

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We've had plenty of near misses
like hurricane Sandy in 2012,

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and we haven't been immune to storm
remnants making their way into the region

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from down south.

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But as far as a landfalling storm,
we're certainly overdue.

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Do you have any questions
you want Globe Weather HQ to answer?

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Email us at weather@globe.com.

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I'm lead meteorologist Ken Mahan.

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For daily access to Boston Globe today.

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All segments and episodes are available
on demand in the Boston

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Globe app by clicking Watch.