California
California gets moisture, needs warmth – Brownfield Ag News
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California gets moisture, needs warmth
An atmospheric scientist says the state that leads the country in fruit and vegetable production has recovered from drought but has a different threat to this year’s crops.
Eric Snodgrass with Nutrien Ag Solutions tells Brownfield California needs warm weather and the accompanying heading degree units so the crops will grow. “Just to think this through, the severe weather event that’s going on right now in the central U.S., that started out this weekend in the west and they had snow all the way down to the foothills of the Sierra Nevadas.”
Snodgrass says the north-south jet stream that is bringing severe storms to the Midwest is also responsible for the chilly air in California. He says the rest of the country is also looking at some cool nights between the 11th and 14th of May, which will also slow down growth there. “We get down there right below that 40 degree line early in the morning, and then sunshine comes out and we kind of break away towards warm. You’re not accumulating a whole lot of GDDs (Growing Degree Days) fast, in other words, as you plant the crop, it’s not like it’s going to emerge in a week. We’re going to have to get that cooler air out.”
Snodgrass says even with the chilly air in the forecast, he’s not expecting a major late frost event that would cause widespread damage to crops. As for moisture, Snodgrass says California had plenty of precipitation in December and January, and again in March and early April.