A snowy January followed by a warm February, a lot of back and forth for producers and their crops this year.
Now at the end of March, many major growing areas are experiencing a freeze again as spring starts and winter wheat emerges.
USDA Meteorologist, Brad Rippey states, “Already by Tuesday morning, March 26th, we saw hard freezes all the way down into west Texas, where Lubbock reported a low temperature of 27 degrees. We are expecting additional freezes across the Southern High Plains into Wednesday morning, and then also some freezing temps expected into the mid-south... Most of the heading wheat is still safely to the south, mainly across southern and central Texas. So, not expecting any permanent damage to the crop but we could certainly see some burnback of some new growth of winter wheat across
the central and southern plains.”
It is not just the emerging winter wheat crop under concern, ranchers in the central part of the country are facing cold, even blizzard conditions threatening their livestock.
