Local farmers may have less to fear from the recent dip in
temperatures than growers elsewhere in California. In fact, some
county growers even welcome the cold front that has swept
throughout the state.
Hollister – Local farmers may have less to fear from the recent dip in temperatures than growers elsewhere in California. In fact, some county growers even welcome the cold front that has swept throughout the state.
“Cold weather is good for cherries,” explained Bill Christopher, who oversees 80 acres of the fruit at Christopher Ranch. “The trees go dormant and usually produce a good crop afterwards. If we have 20 more days of this it would be even better.”
December is the most beneficial month for deciduous trees – the ones that lose their leaves in the winter, such as walnut, apricot, apple and cherry because it allows them to become dormant. This provides the protection they need so they don’t start new growth ahead of schedule, even if there are warm days.
“These kinds of trees require between 700-1,000 hours of temperatures below 45 degrees,” said Bill Coates, farm advisor for UC Cooperative Extension in Hollister.
Santa Clara County Commissioner of Agriculture Greg Van Wassenhove agreed the cold weather will benefit all the “stone,” or pitted, fruit trees.
“It probably won’t be bad for other crops because many aren’t planted yet,” he said.
A freezing low of 25 degrees was recorded on Nov. 30 and another of 26 degrees on Dec. 1 by the Hollister automated weather station and frost recently could be found on the windshields of many residents’ cars. Temperatures in the area hovered in the 40s and 50s for most of November until dipping into the 30s last week, according to Diana Henderson, a Monterey-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service (NWS).
“Since it’s winter it’s not out of the ordinary, but it has been lower than normal,” she said.
The cold temperatures are not all good news for local farmers, according to Van Wassenhove.
“Heating costs are going to skyrocket when it gets cold,” he said.
Plant growers and others that rely on greenhouses would get hit the hardest, he said.
“To keep a greenhouse hot is going to cost them a significant increase in natural gas costs,” Van Wassenhove predicted.
It appears local farmers will fair better than their counterparts in southern California, where cold weather has damaged about 50 percent of some growers’ new crops in Ventura County, northwest of Los Angeles, according to Abby Taylor, spokeswoman for the California Strawberry Commission. There are about 100 growers in that county, where about 4 million pounds of strawberries were harvested last week, she said.
In San Diego County, the overnight low Thursday morning in Ramona was 25 degrees – the coldest spot in the county, according to the National Weather Service. Freeze warnings had been posted overnight in the central and southern San Joaquin Valley as well as in southeastern California and frost warnings were common elsewhere. The cold snap set in Sunday night – and forecasters had little relief in sight.
Henderson predicted that weather would “continue to be chilly for the next few days. Then a new weather system will come in and cloud cover will trap the heat in. After that, it may get colder again depending on what kind of air is behind that system.”
Ivory Small, another NWS forecaster, said Wednesday that average overnight temperatures will remain in the 30s for most of California in the days to come. Beginning Sunday, he added, there’s a 30 percent to 50 percent chance of rain in coastal regions.
