This week, Western North Carolina may be in the grip of near-record warm temperatures. But surprise freeze-and-frost weather in April may have cost local growers half their apple crop, WLOS reports:
Rick Moss grows about 100 acres of apple trees in Edneyville and told the Asheville Citizen-Times (http://avlne.ws/IGMdZE ) he’s heard of losses between 30 percent and 50 percent.
Temperatures had dropped to 24 degrees on the night of April 10.
Henderson County is the state’s top apple-producing county, with 5,000 acres in orchards. The crop is usually valued at around $24 million.
An unusually warm March prompted trees to bloom early, leaving them vulnerable to the cold weather last month….
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