03/19/08 Fruit & Frost

Frost and Fruit. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. It's that critical time of year when orchardists keep one eye on the forecast to know if they need to take measures against frost. Every year the Northwest Ag Information Network is pleased to help out with our Fruit Frost Forecast, this year sponsored by DuPont and delivered by staff meteorologist, Tim Creek who talks about the critical factors he looks at. CREEK: What I always look for is what is the circulation in the atmosphere, how strong are the winds  not only at the surface but also as you go up through the atmosphere. Then you look at clouds, if the cloud cover is going to give you a blanket that will keep heat in or is it going to be a clear night and we're going to see the potential of maximum cooling. But again I think the most critical thing is what is the atmosphere doing, how much circulation. It's kind of like the oil and the vinegar, how much are we shaking that bottle of oil and vinegar up? So how does this season look like it will shape up as far as a frost year? CREEK: We are going to see some rather cool nights with many temperatures from the mid 20's to lower 30's or many nights with those type of temperatures. But I think due to the early nature of the frost season it's not going to be a real critical situation outside of some of the further advanced fruit in the southern basin or lower Yakima valley. So our cool start to the frost season is going to be not that critical. I'm actually looking for the potential a warmer ridge of high pressure building over the region as we get into the first half of April and what that could do is give us warmer temperatures but still some cool overnight lows. I'm not expecting this to be a real critical frost season. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.