OR-crop-weather Oregon Crop Weather Released: April 2, 2012 Week ending: April 1, 2012 OR-CW0112 OREGON CROP WEATHER NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE USDA, NASS, Oregon Field Office Phone: 503-326-2131 Released: April 2, 2012 Toll Free: 1-800-338-2157 Week ending: April 1, 2012 Email: nass-or@nass.usda.gov Volume: 01-12 Internet: www.nass.usda.gov/or Weather: Typical spring temperatures for the State, but abnormally high precipitation in most areas. There were some reports of flooding throughout the Willamette Valley. Water supply concerns in the Northeast have been minimized with recent snow pack increase. The average temperature across Oregon of 45.6 degrees was 1.1 degrees above normal. Low temperatures ranged from 41 degrees in Bandon, down to 22 degrees in Bend, Christmas Valley, and Redmond. High temperatures ranged from 52 degrees in Florence, up to 76 degrees in Ontario. All 43 stations reported measurable precipitation, with 28 of those receiving more than half an inch. There were 38 stations that had above normal levels. The South Coast reported the most with 8.6 inches in Crescent City and 7.0 inches in Bandon. The average precipitation level across the western stations was 3.9 inches, and the rest of the State averaged 0.6 inches. Field Crops: Record breaking March rain in the Willamette Valley had people watching crops there. Crops in the south Willamette were weathering weather well. Will watch weather going forward as crop stress may soon show. Washington County grass seed was looking good but fall grain was suffering from the wet and cold. Field work limited. While precipitation in eastern Oregon was more welcome, it slowed field work including spring seeding. Fruits and Nuts: Sweet cherry buds in Wasco County were in the green tip stage of development. Weather remains cool and unsettled. Bloom was potentially 10 days away. Crop development in the lower Hood River Valley was as follows: d'Anjou pear with blossom buds exposed (WSU stage 2); Red Delicious apple at green tip to half-inch green (WSU stages 2 & 3); Bing cherry at green tip (WSU stage 3); Pinot noir grape at Eichhorn-Lorenz stage 2. Bud break was beginning to occur on some hazelnut varieties. The incessant rains have prevented application of preventative fungicide sprays for EFB. There was damage to prune and hazelnut trees due to wet snow in Lane County. Prune and peach trees were blooming. Cherries and pears were close to bloom in Lane County. Fruits, berries, and nuts were still dormant in Washington County. Vegetables: Garlic was going fine. Some peas were in the ground. Vegetables in Washington County were not yet planted except in high hoop houses. Nurseries and Greenhouses: Greenhouse and nurseries had covers of low plastic on new seedlings. They were moving arborvitae to sales outlets. Livestock, Range and Pasture: Rangeland was looking good but wet and cool conditions have meant slow growth. Cows and calves were looking good. Soil Moisture - Week Ending 04/01/12 ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Very : : : : short : Short : Adequate : Surplus ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Percent : Topsoil : 0 5 50 45 Subsoil : 6 7 56 31 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Crop Progress - Week Ending 04/01/12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5 year Crop : week : week : year : average -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Barley planted : 35 - 46 49 Barley emerged : 10 - 42 29 Spring wheat planted : 37 - 25 28 Spring wheat emerged : 15 - 9 10 : Days suitable for fieldwork : 1.3 - 3.0 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition - Week Ending 04/01/12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Crop : poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Winter wheat : 1 9 35 44 11 Range and pasture : 16 11 44 28 1 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Oregon COLUMBIA: Very wet and cool with delayed blooms on a variety of native and cultivated plants. Pastures delayed but started to pick up. LANE: Very wet, causing little to no field work, and very few pollinators seen. Prune and peach trees were blooming. Huge damage to prune and hazelnut trees due to wet snow. Cherries and pears were close to bloom. Garlic was going fine. Some commercial peas were in the ground. LINN/BENTON: The Willamette Valley has experienced a record breaking amount of rain for the month of March. At this time crops are weathering the weather well, but if the weather continues with the rain trend, some of the crops will start to show water stress. WASHINGTON: Grass for seed was looking good. Fall grain suffering from wet and cold weather, much flooding and debris in low land fields. Fruits, berries, and nuts were still dormant. Vegetables were not yet planted except in high hoop houses. Greenhouse and nurseries had covers of low plastic on new seedlings. They were moving arborvitae to sales outlets. Cows and calves looked good and were on fall supplemental feed. High temperature 54.5 degrees, low 32.0 degrees. Rain fell five days. Total precipitation was 5.2 inches. Floods cut off access to the highway in three points. YAMHILL: Bud break was beginning to occur on some hazelnut varieties. The incessant rains have prevented application of preventative fungicide sprays for Eastern Filbert Blight (EFB). Eastern Oregon GRANT: Weather has been cool and wet so no growth on the rangelands. HOOD RIVER: The week started dry, but cool and wet conditions prevailed through most of the week. At week's end, crop development in the lower Hood River Valley was as follows: d'Anjou pear with blossom buds exposed (WSU stage 2); Red Delicious apple at green tip to half-inch green (WSU stages 2 & 3); Bing cherry at green tip (WSU stage 3); Pinot noir grape at Eichhorn- Lorenz stage 2. LAKE: County is currently at 80% of average for precipitation--storms in recent weeks have improved water supply. Irrigation reservoir storage is above average for this time of year. UMATILLA: Additional rain this week, with more forecasted for the weekend. While rain is needed, farmers are also trying to get spring spraying and fertilizing finished, and trying to get spring wheat seeded into the ground. WALLOWA: March has been a great moisture month with snow and rain throughout the entire month. Snow pack is in good shape due to these events. WASCO: Cloudy and cool temperatures most of last week. Some early blossoming fruit trees from warmer weather a couple weeks ago. Alfalfa and grass forage were looking good but slow growing degree days have made for some concerns. Rangeland was looking good but same concern with cool temperatures and slow growing. Hope for some warmer weather in April. Sweet cherry buds were in the green tip stage of development. Weather remains cool and unsettled. Bloom is potentially 10 days away. Weather data for selected stations in Oregon, Week ending: April 1, 2012 (as of 11:00 am) 1/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ : : Growing : Last week precip. 4/ : Season cum. precipitation 5/ : Air temperature 2/ : degree days 3/ :-------------------------------------------------------------- Station :-------------------------------:-----------------: Total : : : Total : : Pct. : : Low : High : Avg. :DFN 6/ : Total :DFN 6/ : inches :DFN 6/ :Days 7/: inches :DFN 6/ : normal :Days 7/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ COASTAL AREAS : Astoria : 40 54 47 +2 - -7 5.39 4.01 7 54.38 0.10 100 136 Bandon 8/ : 41 58 50 +3 5 -2 7.03 5.60 7 53.07 3.77 108 123 Crescent City : 36 56 48 -2 3 -13 8.57 6.92 7 49.70 -5.73 90 87 Florence : 33 52 45 -4 - -7 4.28 2.52 6 56.33 -6.89 89 118 North Bend : 34 55 48 -1 1 -6 4.78 3.27 6 32.09 -21.07 60 96 Tillamook : 37 57 49 +3 5 -2 3.72 1.77 6 47.87 -24.23 66 136 WILLAMETTE : VALLEY : Aurora 8/ : 33 59 48 +1 3 -4 2.72 1.92 7 34.29 1.26 104 135 Corvallis : 34 58 47 -1 2 -5 3.41 2.58 7 37.65 1.86 105 130 Detroit Lake 8/ : 33 53 42 +2 - +0 4.97 3.61 6 78.70 22.87 141 122 Eugene : 34 59 49 +0 6 -6 3.03 1.98 6 33.85 -7.51 82 103 Hillsboro : 34 56 47 +0 - -7 2.28 1.54 6 24.61 -6.39 79 110 McMinnville : 37 56 48 +1 1 -7 3.15 2.26 7 33.11 -3.63 90 117 Portland : 39 58 49 -1 1 -10 2.53 1.84 6 29.35 0.51 102 116 Salem : 32 56 48 +2 1 -6 3.06 2.30 6 37.45 5.05 116 113 SW VALLEYS : Grants Pass : 33 60 47 -4 5 -14 3.63 3.01 7 24.03 -2.95 89 90 Medford : 35 60 49 +0 9 -5 1.13 0.78 5 12.26 -3.17 79 67 Roseburg : 37 60 49 +0 7 -8 2.71 2.01 6 25.08 -2.22 92 97 NORTH CENTRAL : Condon : 31 58 44 +4 - +0 0.29 0.01 4 7.67 -1.86 80 64 Echo 8/ : 34 64 49 +0 9 -3 0.41 0.25 6 4.98 -1.61 76 66 Heppner : 33 61 47 +2 - -7 0.36 0.01 4 5.71 -3.60 61 54 Hermiston : 35 64 50 +3 14 +2 0.49 0.33 6 4.51 -2.08 68 56 Madras 8/ : 30 62 45 +1 4 -3 0.45 0.29 5 4.58 -2.66 63 57 Moro : 34 59 46 +3 3 -1 1.20 0.99 5 7.53 -0.73 91 55 Parkdale 8/ : 33 55 44 -3 - -7 3.40 2.88 6 40.16 13.31 150 115 Pendleton : 34 61 48 +2 6 -3 0.76 0.53 5 7.01 -1.54 82 59 Prairie City 8/ : 30 62 45 +1 4 -3 0.45 0.29 5 4.58 -2.66 63 57 The Dalles : 39 62 50 +5 7 +0 0.94 0.71 6 10.31 0.58 106 73 SOUTH CENTRAL : Agency Lake 8/ : 30 54 40 +2 - +0 1.64 1.33 6 11.14 -1.32 89 63 Bend : 22 53 40 +0 - -3 0.16 -0.02 1 5.46 -2.98 65 26 Burns : 26 62 43 +5 - -1 0.11 -0.10 5 5.89 -0.61 91 49 Christmas Valley 8/ : 22 58 40 -2 - -7 0.27 0.06 3 3.76 -4.89 43 52 Klamath Falls : 26 58 40 -2 - -4 0.66 0.42 4 4.99 -5.32 48 48 Klamath Falls 8/ : 26 56 40 -2 - -4 0.75 0.51 5 6.48 -3.83 63 64 Lakeview 8/ : 26 53 38 -2 - -2 0.58 0.28 6 5.60 -5.42 51 64 Lorella 8/ : 27 56 40 -2 - -4 0.58 0.34 6 6.36 -3.95 62 57 Redmond : 22 59 43 +3 1 -6 0.39 0.25 3 4.85 -0.74 87 39 Worden 8/ : 28 56 40 -2 - -4 0.65 0.41 3 5.65 -4.66 55 55 NORTHEAST : Baker City : 33 68 46 +6 8 +4 0.21 0.00 4 3.67 -2.28 62 45 Joseph : 29 62 43 +7 - +0 0.74 0.32 5 7.52 -9.94 43 83 La Grande : 30 70 47 +5 8 +1 0.41 0.06 6 8.17 -3.38 71 74 Imbler 8/ : 31 64 45 +3 - -7 0.21 -0.22 6 11.04 -6.15 64 81 SOUTHEAST : Ontario : 31 76 51 +5 17 +6 0.36 0.20 4 5.08 -1.94 72 44 Rome : 30 69 46 +4 6 +2 0.05 -0.14 3 4.10 -0.69 86 38 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1/ Summary based on NWS data. Copyright 2012: AWIS, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 2/ Air temperature in degrees Fahrenheit. 3/ Growing degree days base-50 degrees Fahrenheit. 4/ Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches. 5/ Season cumulative precipitation starts September 1, 2011. 6/ DFN=Departure from normal (using 1961-1990 normal period). 7/ Precipitation days = Days with precipitation of 0.01 inch or more. 8/ Agri-Met weather stations.