Southern Plains Winter Wheat Has Possible Freeze Damage in Some Areas

Some of last week’s freezing temperature forecasts came true on Sunday morning throughout the Southern Plains and may mean trouble for some area’s winter wheat crop areas. USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey explains
Rippey: “We saw temperatures in extreme south eastern Colorado as low as 5 degrees in communities like Larmar and Springfield. Then in far western Oklahoma we saw a few upper single digit readings in Cimmarron County — the western most county in Oklahoma. But you didn’t have to go too far to the east or the south to find much milder conditions that would not have been any concern to wheat. Once you get south of Amarillo, Texas where the low was 19 degrees or once you move eastward through Kansas to around Russell or Medicine Lodge — both of those communities had low temperatures of 20 degrees — there was really no concern for the crop. So we’re talking about a very small geographic area of extreme southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the Oklahoma Panhandle and northern most Texas.”
Rippey says that damage will depend extensively on the crop’s level of development.
Rippey: “So we may see a wide variety of impacts — just depending on the stage of the crop and the exact low temperatures.”
As the temperatures are predicted to increase in the next several days, the possible extent of the damages will become apparent.