OR-crop-weather Oregon Crop Weather Released: July 2, 2012 Week ending: July 1, 2012 OR-CW1412 OREGON CROP WEATHER NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE USDA, NASS, Oregon Field Office Phone: 503-326-2131 Released: July 2, 2012 Toll Free: 1-800-338-2157 Week ending: July 1, 2012 Email: nass-or@nass.usda.gov Volume: 14-12 Internet: www.nass.usda.gov/or Weather: Temperatures climbed again last week, with the average around the State at 62 degrees, although this is still almost 3 degrees below the normal average temperature. Once again, most stations reported that their average temperatures were below normal. Highs in the Willamette Valley were in the mid 70's, climbing to the mid 80's after entering the central part of Oregon, and finally reaching the low 90's on the eastern border. Several stations also reported freezing temperatures still occurring overnight, with Christmas Valley having the lowest recorded temperature at 26 degrees. The rain continued during the past week, with the average number of days of rainfall being about 3.5 days. The station that reported the most rainfall this week was Florence, as it saw 1.5 inches, about 1.13 inches above the normal for this time. The Coast & the Willamette Valley received most of the precipitation, although several of the north-central counties, including Wasco, were hit with storms. Southern Oregon received little precipitation, with several stations reporting no precipitation at all, or only trace amounts. Field Crops: Variations in Umatilla County weather threw a curveball to producers. Many hay producers with second cutting down got rained on again. Hail the last weekend in June caused measurable damage to orchards and row crops in the northeast portion of the County. Hot, dry temperatures mid-week across the County allowed crops to mature, and was good for dry land wheat acres. This caused problems for producers with irrigated crops in the western end of the County, who were without irrigation water for five days. This was caused by a significant break in one of the main canals. Wasco experienced another extra storm through much of the County but nothing in Sherman. A second storm followed, including hail, but observed damage has been light. Otherwise, fertilizing and getting combines ready were popular activities. Grain was turning quickly. Harvest should be much closer to regular schedule than last year. Wheat and hay were progressing nicely and anticipated yields to be slightly above average. There was more rain this week in central Oregon, lots of hay was down when it rained as well. The alfalfa hay crop in the Fort Rock/Christmas Valley area seemed short (height) Alfalfa swathing is a few weeks late in the majority of Lake County due to freezing night time temperatures in late May and early June. In the south Willamette Valley, wind rowing of grass seed annuals, ryegrasses, forage fescues, and orchard grass had begun; there have been some cases of wind rowers getting stuck in the field. Clovers look excellent. Harvesting turnips for seed has begun, although yields look to be average this year. Winter wheat looked average or above average (disease pressure has been strong), spring wheat looked above average. There was a record rainfall total on several days in Douglas County for this time of year. The rainfall was damaging to hay crops and wheat. Fruits and Nuts: A couple of storms hit Wasco County, but fortunately did little to no damage to the crops there. Harvest of the Bing cherries in Wasco started last week and the quality looked to be excellent, with good fruit size. The cherries in Lane County were encountering trouble due to the continued rainfall. Sweet cherry harvest began in Yamhill County. Overall though, cherries look to be good this year, though precipitation through July would be a cause for concern. Pear orchards continued to be thinned in both Hood River and Jackson counties. Fire blight and scab continued to be a problem. The southern Willamette Valley still saw good progress for both strawberries and blueberries. Strawberries were growing well this past week, and the early blueberries began to ripen. Vineyard crops are in full bloom, but the rainy weather could possibly hurt berry set. Lots of cranberry bloom, hopefully they will set. Vegetables: Early vegetables were progressing nicely. Warm season vegetables were very slow to progress this year with the cool, wet weather for the year. Some warm days this week helped. Cole crops looked fine. Nurseries and Greenhouses: The first European pine shoot moths have been found in Portland, according to the Oregon Department of Agriculture. Livestock, Range and Pasture: Record rainfall in Douglas County helped pastures. Although pasture conditions vary across Oregon, on average they have held mostly steady compared to last week and last year at this time. Soil Moisture - Week Ending 07/01/12 ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Very : : : : short : Short : Adequate : Surplus ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Percent : Topsoil : 1 20 73 6 Subsoil : 5 12 79 4 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Crop Progress - Week Ending 07/01/12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5 year Crop : week : week : year : average -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Alfalfa hay, first cutting : 91 88 79 86 Alfalfa hay, second cutting : 8 5 - 9 : Days suitable for fieldwork : 5.2 6.2 6.7 6.7 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition - Week Ending 07/01/12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Crop : poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Winter wheat : 0 7 19 51 23 Spring wheat : 0 5 33 52 10 Barley : 1 3 22 58 16 Corn : 0 0 17 82 1 Range and pasture : 0 5 32 54 9 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Oregon COOS/CURRY: Lows were slightly below seasonal average for the period in Coos and above in Curry County. Cool conditions prevailed all week in both Coos and Curry counties, scattered rainfall throughout the period. Brookings received 3/4 inch on Monday and another 1/2 on Saturday. Bandon received over 1/3 inch on Friday and scattered showers throughout the week. Little field work was done this past week due to the precipitation. Lots of cranberry bloom, hopefully they will set. Bandon (Coos and Northern Curry): Official Low temperature for the period was 45.93 degrees, 0.19 degrees below the 5-year average. High temperature for the period was 65.19 degrees, 0.18 degrees above the 5-year average. Precipitation for the period was 0.55 inches, which is 0.34 inches above the 5-year average for the week. Weather year 2012 (began 10/1/2011) precipitation stands at 64.53 inches, 12.92 inches above the 5-year average. Average precipitation through the month of June is 57.48 inches. Brookings (Southern Curry): Low temperature for the period was 49.02 degrees, 1.57 degrees above the 5-year average. High temperature for the period was 72.00 degrees, 5.55 degrees below the 5-year average. Precipitation for the period was 1.63 inches, compared to a 5-year average of 0.48 inches. Weather year 2012 (began 10/1/2011) precipitation stands at 90.76 inches, 13.37 inches above the 5-year average. Historical average precipitation through June is 69.98 inches. DOUGLAS: The past week brought significant rainfall totaling 1.5-2 inches across much of the County. There was a record rainfall total on several days for this time of year. The rainfall was damaging to hay crops, wheat, vineyards, and maturing fruit crops like cherries. The rain also helped improve some pastures and recharged orchard, and vegetable ground. Vineyard crops were in bloom, so rainfall can possibly hurt berry set and increase the risk of Botrytis in future grape bunches. The rainy weather also has kept temperatures well below normal for this time of year, making crop development slow for fruit and vegetable crops. JOSEPHINE: Precipitation for the past week was 0.50 inches. Overnight lows ranged from 46-58 degrees, with daytime highs varying from 59-83 degrees. Heat loving plants are maturing well now. Mulching, watering, and harvesting cool weather crops. Potatoes appeared to be solid and good sized. Tomatoes set on, peppers blooming, broccoli continues with generous harvest. Rhubarb has been excellent this year. Asparagus is in full fern, grapes are doing very well, no flowers yet but healthy despite cool, damp spring. Pesky insects, aphid, and cabbage moth have been a bit of a problem. The weather was wonderful for working this last week. LANE: Strawberries were still growing well this past week. The continued rainfall was still a major concern for cherries as they continued to ripen. The early blueberries were beginning to turn color and ripen, and initial indications were for a big crop this year. Early vegetables were also progressing nicely. Non hoop house warm season vegetables are very slow to progress this year, cole crops are growing fine. Still hasn't warmed up this past week, morning temperatures are barely reaching 60 degrees. Wind rowing of grass seed annuals, ryegrasses, forage fescues, and orchard grass has begun; there have been some cases of wind rowers getting stuck in the field. Clovers look excellent. Harvesting turnips for seed has begun, although yields look to be average this year. Winter wheat looked average or above average (disease pressure has been strong), spring wheat looked above average. YAMHILL: Sweet cherry harvest was underway. Filbert worm emergence began this week. Wednesday's warm temperatures helped to hasten the maturity of fruit crops. JACKSON: Rainy weather continued through the week. Tuesday and Wednesday were dry, but the rain returned Thursday night and Friday morning. Still hay left to be cut in the area. Pear orchards were in the midst of thinning, but they were still fighting against scab and fire blight. Vegetables were faring well due to the wet, but still fairly warm weather. Eastern Oregon CROOK: There was more rain this week, lots of hay was down when it rained as well. The alfalfa hay crop in the Fort Rock/Christmas Valley area seems short (height) and basal buds were regrowing, thus it is time to harvest. HOOD RIVER: Variable but mostly mild weather conditions prevailed through the week. Hand thinning of summer pears and routine summer orchard operations continued throughout the Hood River Valley. MALHEUR: Weather was similar to last week, cool the first part of the week and hot towards the end. Normal high for this past week was 85 degrees, normal lows 55 degrees. High temperatures in the first of week were in the upper 80's, while lows were in the upper 40's. As the week progressed, highs climbed of into the upper 90's, as the lows also increased to the mid 50's. No precipitation. Haying continued under favorable conditions. Irrigation and spraying were of greater concern. The southern part of Malheur County was also extremely dry. SHERMAN/WASCO: Wasco experienced another extra storm through much of the County but nothing in Sherman. A second storm followed, including hail, but observed damage has been light. Otherwise, fertilizing and getting combines ready were popular activities. Grain was turning quickly. Harvest should be much closer to regular schedule than last year. Cherries in the area experienced the rain as well. Bing cherry harvest began on June 28 in Wasco County. Quality looked to be excellent with nice fruit size. Showers and windy weather kept everyone nervous for the second week of cherry harvest. Some reports of damage but it seemed to be manageable. Everyone kept harvesting throughout the week with no stoppages. Wheat and hay progressing nicely and anticipate yields to be slightly above average. LAKE: No measureable precipitation during the past week. Alfalfa swathing is a few weeks late in the majority of the County due to freezing night time temperatures in late May and early June. UMATILLA: Variations in weather last week threw a curveball to producers. Many hay producers with second cutting down got rained on again. Hail the last weekend in June caused measurable damage to orchards and row crops in the northeast portion of the County. Hot, dry temperatures mid-week across the County allowed crops to mature, and was good for dry land wheat acres. This caused significant problems for producers with irrigated crops in the western end of the County, who were without irrigation water for 5 days after a significant break in one of the main canals. Weather data for selected stations in Oregon, Week ending: July 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 : 44 70 58 -1 56 -4 0.93 +0.50 4 71.25 +7.22 111 185 Bandon 8/ : 46 66 58 +2 59 +10 0.55 +0.35 5 65.17 +7.59 113 176 Crescent City : 48 65 58 +1 57 +4 0.61 +0.45 4 59.45 -4.45 93 129 Florence : 45 70 57 -2 53 -10 1.50 +1.13 4 73.37 -0.98 99 168 North Bend : 48 68 60 +2 71 +11 0.67 +0.44 5 40.15 -21.80 65 134 Tillamook : 43 70 60 +3 69 +20 0.46 -0.11 4 61.50 -23.92 72 183 WILLAMETTE : VALLEY : Aurora 8/ : 49 79 63 -2 90 -9 0.65 +0.39 3 44.38 +4.89 112 183 Corvallis : 45 77 61 -3 79 -15 0.66 +0.46 4 46.40 +5.04 112 176 Detroit Lake 8/ : 45 79 61 +1 77 +2 0.66 +0.31 5 98.46 +33.02 150 174 Eugene : 44 77 62 -3 89 -15 0.72 +0.50 4 42.08 -5.76 88 143 Hillsboro : 42 76 62 -3 82 -15 0.31 +0.07 2 31.73 -4.29 88 154 McMinnville : 46 77 62 -3 87 -9 0.19 +0.04 4 40.28 -1.72 96 160 Portland : 52 77 64 -3 101 -12 0.72 +0.48 5 40.04 +5.40 116 161 Salem : 47 77 62 -3 87 -13 0.48 +0.26 4 44.88 +6.98 118 152 SW VALLEYS : Grants Pass : 47 85 65 -5 107 -29 0.31 +0.24 4 27.92 -2.41 92 124 Medford : 48 84 67 -4 121 -19 0.84 +0.77 4 17.55 -0.54 97 100 Roseburg : 48 78 64 -3 99 -15 0.68 +0.54 3 30.33 -1.39 96 133 NORTH CENTRAL : Condon : 39 82 61 -3 76 -16 0.42 +0.25 4 14.87 +1.93 115 98 Echo 8/ : 41 88 68 -4 126 -17 0.21 +0.14 2 7.96 -0.40 95 93 Heppner : 43 84 64 -4 96 -20 0.29 +0.15 3 12.35 -0.56 96 87 Hermiston : 41 88 67 -4 121 -22 0.21 +0.14 2 8.90 +0.54 106 78 Madras 8/ : 38 79 61 -4 80 -22 0.06 -0.08 3 8.63 -0.85 91 88 Moro : 38 85 63 -3 91 -12 0.09 -0.02 1 10.19 -0.20 98 84 Parkdale 8/ : 37 78 60 -6 68 -35 0.02 -0.08 2 46.09 +16.09 154 155 Pendleton : 44 86 67 -4 117 -22 0.14 +0.02 2 11.68 +0.50 104 84 Prairie City 8/ : 38 79 61 -4 80 -22 0.06 -0.08 3 8.63 -0.85 91 88 The Dalles : 46 85 69 +5 133 +32 0.01 -0.10 1 13.09 +1.33 111 95 SOUTH CENTRAL : Agency Lake 8/ : 35 77 58 -4 56 -22 0.15 +0.02 3 14.36 -0.81 95 88 Bend : 34 79 57 -4 52 -24 0.03 -0.12 1 9.22 -1.45 86 41 Burns : 30 85 61 -2 80 -7 - -0.14 - 8.63 -0.31 97 71 Christmas Valley 8/ : 26 81 58 -8 56 -52 0.24 +0.07 5 5.71 -5.62 50 80 Klamath Falls : 34 80 58 -7 62 -42 0.08 -0.05 3 7.46 -5.12 59 73 Klamath Falls 8/ : 34 79 59 -6 66 -38 0.11 -0.02 6 8.87 -3.71 71 94 Lakeview 8/ : 35 81 58 -6 55 -40 0.12 -0.06 2 7.86 -6.90 53 87 Lorella 8/ : 33 81 59 -6 66 -38 0.08 -0.05 3 8.71 -3.87 69 84 Redmond : 34 84 59 -5 61 -30 0.02 -0.12 2 8.28 +0.67 109 61 Worden 8/ : 34 77 57 -8 53 -51 0.07 -0.06 4 7.65 -4.93 61 74 NORTHEAST : Baker City : 34 90 62 -2 87 -10 0.33 +0.09 2 7.71 -1.70 82 79 Joseph : 36 85 61 +4 80 +26 0.52 +0.22 3 12.68 -10.31 55 118 La Grande : 36 86 65 -2 104 -10 - -0.25 - 10.51 -5.48 66 89 Imbler 8/ : 36 83 62 -2 86 -13 0.49 +0.24 3 16.58 -5.45 75 114 SOUTHEAST : Ontario : 45 96 71 -2 152 -9 0.05 -0.05 1 7.77 -1.29 86 64 Rome : 39 94 67 -2 122 -9 - -0.16 - 5.71 -1.76 76 54 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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.