Eastern U.S. Fruit, Vegetable Damage Overnight; More Likely
By Drew Lerner
Kansas City, April 6 (World Weather Inc.) – An unusually cold airmass reached into the east-central United States overnight bringing freezes into Virginia and North Carolina as well as neighboring areas. Most of the freezes were great enough to injure some flowering fruit trees and some vegetable crops in the region. Damage assessments will not be possibly right away, but the bigger concern is the more powerful freeze that is expected in the east-central states this weekend. That event will bring more damage to a larger amount of crops varying from 
strawberries and blueberries to apples, cherries and peaches. Some winter wheat may be damaged, but the impact on fruits and vegetable crops will be more extensive and significant.
Low temperatures this morning fell into the 20s Fahrenheit in Virginia and the upper 20s with a few middle 20s in North Carolina. Colder readings occurred in Ohio and Pennsylvania where a few upper teens occurred. . The cold lasted long enough to damage many flowering fruit frees as well as some surface vegetable and fruit crops.
Somewhat warmer weather will occur Thursday and Friday morning, but a new surge of bitter cold air will rush through the Great Lakes region and lower Midwest Saturday and into the middle and interior southeastern parts of the U.S. Sunday. A strong surface high pressure center will center over Virginia in the Sunday morning event sending temperatures well below average with extremes dipping into the teens in parts of Virginia, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
Lows in the teens and lower 20s will occur from Pennsylvania and Ohio into Virginia while 20s occur from Kentucky into North Carolina. Lows Sunday in the upper 20s and lower 30s will impact most of Tennessee, portions of South Carolina and possibly extreme northern Georgia. The duration of temperatures below freezing will be many hours in Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky and northern North Carolina were additional damaged will be significant after similar conditions occurred this morning. Freezes to the south will occur from 1 to 4 hours – long enough to damage many crops.
The region produces a considerable amount of fresh fruit and vegetable crops many of which have been developing for a while. Deciduous fruit trees are budding in some northern areas while are in full bloom in Tennessee, South Carolina and parts of North Carolina. The following is a brief statistical rundown of the crops produced in the region and their impact on the nation’s total production. There are many other crops produced that are not included, but the impact is likely to be the same.
- 7% of the blueberries in the U.S. come from North Carolina while less than 1% comes from each of these states; South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Virginia
- 14% of the blueberry crop comes from Georgia, but most of the crops will be spared there
- 2% of the U.S. strawberry crop is produced in North Carolina and less than 1% from each of the neighboring states in the freeze threat area
- 13% of the nation’s peaches are produced in South Carolina, 1% in Virginia and 1% in North Carolina with less than 1% in each of these states; Virginia, Tennessee and Ohio
- 3% of the apple crop in the U.S. is produced in Virginia, 1% in West Virginia, 2% in North Carolina and 1% in Ohio (no flowering is suspected in Ohio)
- 3% of the nation’s vegetable crops are produced in North Carolina with less than 1% of in each of the following states; Virginia, South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky
- 2% of winter wheat is produced in North Carolina and less than 1% from each of these states, Kentucky, Tennessee, Virginia and South Carolina
- Wheat is 30% jointed in the state and will not likely suffer nearly as much as the fruit and vegetable industry
Most vegetable crops will be damaged in any kind of a frost or freeze, but there are exceptions. The varying kinds of crops and differing stages of development will make assessing the damage from this morning and that of the coming weekend rather difficult.
In the case of flowering fruit trees there is a high potential that permanent damage will occur to blossoms and early fruit settings from North Carolina to Virginia and Tennessee resulting in significant losses in production potential. An accurate assessment of the damage from this morning and that of this weekend will not be possible until fruit setting is complete and even then it may be difficult to ascertain the amount of damage prior to harvesting.
No other areas in the southeastern United States, Midwest of Plains states will be vulnerable to crop damaging cold from this weekend’s episode.
The situation still needs to be closely monitored into the end of this week since there is still some potential for changes in the intensity and duration of the cold expected during the weekend.
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