OR-crop-weather Oregon Crop Weather Released: October 22, 2012 Week ending: October 21, 2012 OR-CW3012 OREGON CROP WEATHER NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL STATISTICS SERVICE USDA, NASS, Oregon Field Office Phone: 503-326-2131 Released: October 22, 2012 Toll Free: 1-800-338-2157 Week ending: October 21, 2012 Email: nass-or@nass.usda.gov Volume: 3012 Internet: www.nass.usda.gov/or Weather: Oregon remained cool and rainy, with most stations reporting high temperatures in the upper 60's to low 70's and measurable precipitation. Most areas had both above average precipitation and temperatures. South central Oregon was an exception with some stations reporting these above and some below average for this time of year. Lorella had the highest record temperature at 78 degrees, below its normal high for this time of the year. All stations in central and eastern Oregon reported below freezing overnight temperatures. Christmas Valley and Lakeview both had the lowest recorded temperature at 13 degrees. The continued rainfall throughout Oregon lifted burn bans in some areas and improved overall soil conditions for fall planting. Detroit Lake recorded receiving 5.09 inches of rain, above its normal precipitation for this time of fall. Field Crops: Umatilla County received the first measurable rain in almost 80 days, which was very welcomed. The additional moisture allowed farmers to get out and seed the rest of their winter wheat, and aided already seeded wheat that was dusted in. Corn harvest continued, but was slowed down by rain. Union and Baker counties also received much needed rainfall, which slowed sugarbeet and sunflower harvest early in the week. Chance of rain over the weekend could delay harvest. Most winter wheat has been planted with some fields emerged. Malheur potato harvest was done with possible exception of straggler fields. Corn and sugarbeet harvests are the focus now. North central grain crop seeding rushed into high gear, as encouraged by weekend rains. Wasco County was now about 80 percent complete with Sherman County 92 percent complete. Some land was being saved for spring planting and many acres of CRP were still being prepared for both fall and spring seeding. Changes to barley crop insurance programs boosted acres, but messed up seed plants that were scrambling to find barley seed, while being left with lots of unwanted spring wheat taking up limited storage space. Generally takes 3 years to switch from one crop to another, based on predicted needs. Klamath County potato harvest continued. In the Willamette Valley, fall grain seeded in dust and then it rained and seeding continued in moist soil. Some ryegrass for seed also still to be planted. Fruits and Nuts: Some cranberry producers have started harvest season. Hazelnut growers were scrambling to harvest crop during the dry days; still need about 10 days for the harvest for late falling nuts. Southern Oregon tree fruit and vineyard harvest was near completion. Willamette Valley grapes were also near harvest end, with prediction of great vintage. The wine grapes that were still on the vines when the rains hit have benefited from the rain by dropping the brix and plumping the grapes up a bit; now if they can get them harvested before it goes too far the other direction. Walnut harvest still to come. Rain disrupted Hood River harvest for late season apples and upper Valley pear growers that were trying to finish up winter pear harvest. Vegetables: Malheur County onion harvest done. Vegetables, including garlic, leeks, chard, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, and peas, were growing well with the much needed rain in southern Oregon. However, tomatoes and other warm season vegetables were barely hanging on due to frost and cold damage. Cauliflower and broccoli were being picking and heading to cannery and processors in Washington County. Plenty of pumpkins are still waiting in fields for the public's arrival and purchase. Nurseries and Greenhouses: Nurseries and greenhouses were burning ripped out arborvitae and other shrubs, digging, and burlap and balling larger trees. Livestock, Range and Pasture: Lake County livestock producers were trucking cattle to winter pastures. Coos and Curry counties' cattle were mostly off the bottoms and were being gathered off the hills. Willamette Valley pastures were greening up with buffalo and cattle doing well. Soil Moisture - Week Ending 10/21/12 ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Very : : : : short : Short : Adequate : Surplus ------------------------------------------------------------------ : Percent : Topsoil : 12 29 59 0 Subsoil : 28 32 40 0 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Crop Progress - Week Ending 10/21/12 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : This : Last : Last : 5 year Crop : week : week : year : average -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Winter wheat planted : 68 51 - 80 Winter wheat emerged : 26 24 - 40 : Days suitable for fieldwork : 4.9 6.5 6.1 5.5 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Crop Condition - Week Ending 10/21/12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Very : : : : Crop : poor : Poor : Fair : Good : Excellent ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- : Percent : Corn : 0 0 25 75 0 Range and pasture : 20 33 30 17 0 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Western Oregon COOS/CURRY: Lows were 3 - 5 degrees below the 5-year average for both counties. Coos County maximum high temperature was 2.51 degrees above the 5- year average. Maximum high was over 4 degrees above the 5-year average in southern Curry County. Cool mornings and overcast conditions prevailed all week along the Coast, with heavy rain early in the week, dry mid week, and scattered showers over the weekend. Rainfall has ended the burning ban for the area, and seasonal streams are starting to show signs of life. Cattle were mostly off the bottoms and were being gathered off the hills. Cranberry producers have started harvest season. Bandon (Coos and Northern Curry): Official low temperature for the period was 39.76 degrees, 2.99 degrees below the 5-year average. High temperature for the period was 72.0 degrees, 2.51 degrees above the 5-year average. Precipitation for the period was 2.1 inches, which is 1.35 inches above the 5-year average for the week. Weather year 2012 (through 9/30/2012) ended with a total of 65.04 inches, 11.27 above the 5-year average, and 4.64 above the historical average. Weather year 2013 (began 10/1/2012) precipitation stands at 2.19 inches, 0.04 inches above the 5-year average. Historical average precipitation for October is 4.07 inches. Brookings (Southern Curry): Low temperature for the period was 42.37 degrees, 4.54 degrees below the 5-year average. High temperature for the period was 72.9 degrees, 4.42 degrees above the 5-year average. Precipitation for the period was 4.62 inches, which is 3.43 inches above the 5-year average. Weather year 2012 (through 9/30/2012) ended with a total of 91.91 inches, 11.61 above the 5-year average, and 18.43 above the historical average. Weather year 2013 (began 10/1/2012) precipitation stands at 5.19inches, 0.6 inches above the 5-year average. Historical average precipitation for October is 5.22 inches. DOUGLAS: A fairly widespread rain event with 80 percentage coverage of 1 inch or more. This rain slowed activity for a couple days, but now allowed fall planting to go fast as winter wheat planting hitting 100 percent by the end of the week. Fall pasture and field crop work has also been active. Tree fruit and vineyard harvest was near completion with only a few late apple varieties remaining on trees. Grape growers that are interested in late harvest wines that utilize Botrytis fungi, still have a few acres waiting in the fields. Fall nursery field digging of balled and burlap trees were going strong. JACKSON: Grape harvest wrapped up just in time. The week started with rain and an inversion mid-week caused temperatures to drop near freezing. JOSEPHINE: Overnight temperatures of 30 to 50 degrees with daytime temperatures of 50 to 80 degrees. Fire season was over. The County welcomed 2.5 inches of rain for the week but still not enough. Harvesting was winding down between rain and frost. Grapes were still being harvested. Winter crops were doing nicely, including garlic, leeks, chard, broccoli, brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale, and peas for cover crop. LANE: Hazelnut growers were scrambling to harvest crop during the dry days; still need about 10 days for the harvest for late falling nuts. Rain is much needed for winter crops. A lot of pumpkins were still waiting in field for the public to arrive to purchase. Fall apples were slowly ripening, need a few days of good sunshine. Tomatoes and other warm season vegetables were barely hanging on. Plenty of frost and cold damage. WASHINGTON: Fall grain seeded in dust and then it rained and seeding continued in moist soil. New seeding of rye was done in moist soil, no dust. Farmers markets closed in most areas. Grapes were near harvest end, with prediction of great vintage. Cauliflower and broccoli were being picking and heading to cannery and processors; potatoes were done. Nurseries and greenhouses were burning ripped out arborvitae and other shrubs, digging and burlap and balling larger trees, and planting large trees. Pastures were greening up with buffalo and cattle doing well. High temperature 63 degrees, low 41 degrees. Rain came and deposited 2.8 inches precipitation, very much needed in irrigated fields. YAMHILL: Planted crops were beginning to show a little green and those just planted in the past couple of weeks were glad to have the rains we've been having. Major crops left to harvest include the rest of the hazelnuts and wine grapes and to start the walnuts. The wine grapes that were still on the vines when the rains hit have benefitted from the rain by dropping the brix and plumping the grapes up a bit; now if they can get them harvested before it goes too far the other direction. Farmers were still trying to get winter wheat in the ground as well as perennial rye grass. Hazelnut harvest continued. Late season apple harvest continued. Eastern Oregon HARNEY: Conditions remained dry. Fall has arrived and temperatures were dropping to the low 30's in the evenings. HOOD RIVER: Variable weather, including intermittent rain, prevailed through the week. The rain disrupted harvest for late season apples and upper Valley pear growers that were trying to finish up winter pear harvest. KLAMATH: Another week of warm temperatures. The first real moisture of the season came on Monday. It was enough to get the ground moist, but not enough to cause delays for field work. Farmers were taking advantage of the dry weather to get a jump on field work. Potato harvest continued. LAKE: Received some precipitation during the week; conditions were still very dry. Livestock producers were trucking cattle to winter pastures. MALHEUR: High and low temperatures for the week were 73 and 33 degrees. Rain accumulation for the County was 0.50 inches. Potato and onion harvests were done with possible exception of straggler fields. Corn and sugarbeet harvests are the focus now. SHERMAN/WASCO: Grain crop seeding rushed into high gear, as encouraged by weekend rains. Wasco County was now about 80 percent complete with Sherman County 92 percent complete. Some land was being saved for spring planting and many acres of CRP were still being prepared for both fall and spring seeding. Monday rain was really warm. Changes to barley crop insurance programs boosted acres, but messed up seed plants that were scrambling to find barley seed while being left with lots of unwanted spring wheat taking up limited storage space. Generally takes 3 years to switch from one crop to another, based on predicted needs. UNION/BAKER: Received much needed rainfall, which slowed sugarbeet and sunflower harvest early in the week. Chance of rain over the weekend could delay harvest. Most winter wheat has been planted with some fields emerged. Fall is definitely here with night temperatures reaching below freezing. UMATILLA: The County received the first measurable rain in almost 80 days, which was very welcomed. The additional moisture allowed wheat farmers to get out and seed the rest of their winter wheat, and aided already seeded wheat that was dusted in. Corn harvest continued, but was slowed down by rain. Weather data for selected stations in Oregon, Week ending: October 21, 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 64 52 +0 23 +5 2.98 +1.63 5 5.10 -1.31 80 12 Bandon 8/ : 40 72 55 +3 38 +11 2.10 +1.12 5 2.24 -1.77 56 12 Crescent City : 41 72 55 +1 40 +1 2.17 +1.00 3 2.85 -1.65 63 12 Florence : 39 73 53 -2 26 -5 4.40 +3.00 5 5.91 -0.08 99 11 North Bend : 43 70 56 +2 44 +11 1.88 +0.78 5 2.31 -2.10 52 6 Tillamook : 39 73 55 +4 36 +17 3.56 +1.89 4 5.66 -2.41 70 10 WILLAMETTE : VALLEY : Aurora 8/ : 37 68 53 +3 29 +11 1.38 +0.63 6 3.05 -0.67 82 11 Corvallis : 37 66 53 +2 25 +6 1.10 +0.37 6 3.13 -0.17 95 9 Detroit Lake 8/ : 36 70 50 +4 15 +7 5.09 +3.92 6 6.92 +1.83 136 11 Eugene : 37 69 54 +2 32 +7 2.29 +1.49 5 2.82 -0.71 80 9 Hillsboro : 36 67 52 +1 26 +9 1.48 +0.82 5 2.49 -0.68 79 9 McMinnville : 36 67 54 +2 32 +11 1.63 +0.88 5 2.45 -1.08 69 7 Portland : 42 68 55 +2 38 +10 1.86 +1.24 5 2.92 -0.42 87 8 Salem : 37 69 54 +3 30 +12 2.17 +1.47 5 3.26 -0.03 99 10 SW VALLEYS : Grants Pass : 35 73 56 +2 46 +8 1.01 +0.43 4 1.10 -1.18 48 5 Medford : 34 76 56 +3 51 +19 0.82 +0.47 3 1.05 -0.67 61 4 Roseburg : 38 74 57 +3 52 +15 0.89 +0.33 6 1.15 -1.30 47 7 NORTH CENTRAL : Condon : 28 68 50 +3 19 +12 0.86 +0.63 4 1.03 -0.28 79 7 Echo 8/ : 31 77 53 +3 30 +14 0.41 +0.27 2 0.76 -0.01 99 6 Heppner : 29 74 53 +3 32 +15 0.79 +0.57 4 1.06 -0.39 73 6 Hermiston : 31 75 54 +4 34 +18 0.58 +0.44 3 0.90 +0.13 117 7 Madras 8/ : 31 70 50 +2 20 +7 0.28 +0.14 2 0.45 -0.47 49 7 Moro : 28 66 50 +2 16 +8 0.83 +0.68 4 1.08 +0.11 111 6 Parkdale 8/ : 31 64 50 +0 16 +2 2.50 +1.98 6 2.86 +0.47 120 12 Pendleton : 31 71 53 +2 30 +12 0.60 +0.39 3 0.95 -0.16 86 6 Prairie City 8/ : 31 70 50 +2 20 +7 0.28 +0.14 2 0.45 -0.47 49 7 The Dalles : 37 67 55 +6 38 +29 0.63 +0.44 3 0.74 -0.28 73 5 SOUTH CENTRAL : Agency Lake 8/ : 17 67 44 -2 7 +2 0.80 +0.47 2 0.80 -0.65 55 2 Bend : 29 73 49 +3 16 +9 0.73 +0.59 1 0.73 -0.09 89 1 Burns : 14 71 47 +3 15 +14 0.40 +0.25 2 0.41 -0.58 41 3 Christmas Valley 8/ : 13 72 45 -5 12 -1 0.53 +0.31 2 0.56 -0.62 47 4 Klamath Falls : 18 72 49 +2 16 +5 0.23 -0.03 2 0.23 -0.95 19 2 Klamath Falls 8/ : 21 72 47 -1 10 -1 0.21 -0.05 3 0.21 -0.97 18 3 Lakeview 8/ : 13 73 46 -2 7 -1 0.17 -0.11 3 0.18 -1.18 13 4 Lorella 8/ : 16 78 46 -3 9 -2 0.24 -0.02 2 0.25 -0.93 21 3 Redmond : 19 75 49 +3 24 +15 0.94 +0.80 3 1.01 +0.31 144 6 Worden 8/ : 16 73 46 -3 11 +0 0.12 -0.14 4 0.18 -1.00 15 5 NORTHEAST : Baker City : 18 69 46 +1 15 +10 0.23 +0.09 3 0.32 -0.83 28 6 Joseph : 25 69 47 +5 12 +12 1.11 +0.69 5 1.57 -0.95 62 8 La Grande : 25 70 50 +3 24 +13 0.37 +0.07 1 0.51 -1.23 29 3 Imbler 8/ : 26 69 49 +3 15 +8 1.06 +0.66 4 1.27 -0.85 60 10 SOUTHEAST : Ontario : 28 73 51 +2 26 +12 0.46 +0.32 2 0.56 -0.33 63 5 Rome : 21 76 53 +6 42 +32 0.06 -0.08 1 0.21 -0.73 22 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 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, 2012. 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.