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Meteorologist warns of winter-like weather coming in April

USDA’s Chief Meteorologist is warning farmers about a series of upcoming cold waves.  Brad Rippey says when weather like this hit the U.S. in 2007 and 2017, it caused over a billion dollars in damage each year. “There’s certainly a concern for any early-planted row crops that get hit with sub-freezing temperatures, (and) for winter wheat which has begun to advance to the join stage or beyond.”

Rippey says three separate cold waves are forming that will bring winter-like temperatures back to parts of the U.S. impacting more than early-planted row crops. “We have seen early development of fruit crops across the south, some of that even extending into the Midwest now.”

Along with existing wet conditions in much of the country, Rippey expects some areas to have planting delays over the next two to three weeks because of hard freezes.