The impacts of spring frost on agricultural production and plant ecology have been frequently reported; however, understanding of the spatial and temporal distribution patterns and changes in trends of spring frost events on large scale remains limited. In this work, we explore the spatiotemporal variations of spring frost events in North America and Eurasia from 1948 to 2016. The frequency of spring frost has increased in North America, while it has decreased in Eurasia. The percentage of regions with increased spring frost is increasing in North America, whereas it is decreasing in Eurasia. It was also found that the frequency of cropland experiencing spring frost is rising in North America, whereas it is falling in Eurasia. The changes in the temporal and spatial distributions of spring frost events raise the question whether they are triggering changes in agriculture management and potential gains and losses as the world becomes warmer, especially in regions where the risk of spring frosts is increasing.
Wei et al. (2026) studied this question.