03/18/05 The bloom, and the frost?, Part 1

03/18/05 The bloom, and the frost?, Part 1

It's been a pretty spring time site in the fruit growing areas of the Northwest & the blossoming of the cherry trees. Only one thing. The unusually mild February and early March has resulted in earlier bloom and according to meteorologist Tim Creek, the increased chance of frost in the region. CREEK: We basically kept seeing, not cooler air, but a dryer air pushing into the area which allowed skies to remain clear which kept any inversion out of the region, and the bottom line was, we say sunny skies and temperatures well above average, which pushed much of the fruits to maybe two to three weeks ahead of schedule, and when its ahead of schedule this early in the season, it generally means a long frost season. And there was potential of frost as early as this week. But Creek says there may be a short term break. CREEK: We are looking at a situation as we head into this weekend and the first of next week, where I would have thought we would see some frosty conditions or at least temperatures dropping into the mid to upper twenties. Instead, it looks like we might actually see further development of an area of low pressure off of Vancouver Island which could direct the jet stream into the area more from a southwesterly direction especially later this weekend and the first of next week which could bring us some scattered shower activity. But will the luck hold out in keeping the frost away? Creek said that might be an increasing possibility. More on that in our next program.
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