Is Spring Really Here?

Is Spring Really Here? I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. While much of the nation is still dealing with Old Man Winter, the Pacific Northwest seems to be jumping into an early Spring and indeed at the Martin house, the jonquils are blooming and the trees leafing out. NW Ag meteorologist Tim Creek takes a look. CREEK: The outlook for our spring season is actually looking relatively mild. Through this winter we have had a typical el Niño weather pattern where there's been a storm track directed into southern California and a secondary storm track directed well to the north into British Columbia and northern Canada. This has left the northwest in a pattern since the first of the year that's been very mild and although we've seen some shower threats it's been a relatively uneventful weather pattern. The question is how long will this beautiful weather hold? CREEK: I expect that this el Niño pattern is going to continue through at least the next 6 weeks or so maybe till the end of April and what that will do is once again continue to keep us on a warmer and dryer type of forecast. Creek says the dryer part is questionable but he also cautions that frost may be a possibility. CREEK: But I'm not looking at any real serious cold so right now I'm looking for a relatively benign frost season. Of course you can keep up to date with the latest frost information by logging on to our website at www.aginfo.net . Tomorrow we will chat more with Tim Creek about the spring weather forecast. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.