IRVINE, CA - Good morning, AndNowUKnow readers!
Today, I am bringing you some of the category and weather news from around the industry. Check back twice weekly to see where the rain is falling, the sun is shining, and everything in between.
RAIN COMING TO THE SOUTH
It appears the growing regions of Georgia and Northern Florida will see decent amounts of rain over the next five days.
The growing regions of Blackshear, Homerville, and Jessup in the state of Georgia can expect approximately 1.5” of total rainfall over the next five days. The heaviest rainfall will come today and Monday. Temperatures will be warm with highs in the mid-80°s and lows in the mid-60°s.
These regions are preparing for the start of blueberry harvest.
Further south in the state of Florida, all major growing regions will see rain starting this Sunday and continuing through next Tuesday. Regions from Tampa and north will see approximately 1.25” over the three days. The further south you go into Immokalee and Belle Glade the less the rain totals will be.
The weather should begin to dry out starting Wednesday of next week.
GOOD NEWS FOR CHERRY GROWERS
The big storm I had mentioned to you on Tuesday that was scheduled to hit the Sacramento area of California has been greatly downsized. At this time, the forecast is for rains up only .25” today with only a slight chance for tomorrow and again on Monday. We were not able to get in touch with Chris Zanobini of Cal Cherry, as he is at CPMA this week and was unavailable. Hopefully we can get ahold of him on Monday.
This is the second storm in a row that has been downgraded in California in the last two weeks. Maybe these late season storms are not as reliable to predict as mid-winter storms due to changing seasons. If any weather people have an opinion, please feel free to share.
STRAWBERRY CORRECTION
On Tuesday, I mentioned the strawberry season was winding down in Florida, Mexico, and Oxnard. This information I gathered from the USDA Shipping Points Production Trends, based on production numbers week over week and comments from the USDA. This information concerning Oxnard is not correct, in fact their season will continue into June.
Carolyn O’Donnell, the Communications Director for the California Strawberry Commission, was kind enough to contact us and make us aware of our mistake. Carolyn said although it is true numbers are down this season due to the amount of rains Oxnard has seen this winter, production should begin to climb a bit as the weather warms up and late varieties kick into production. Carolyn said Oxnard will have good volumes and quality for the next two months.
Thank you, Carolyn, for reaching out to us and setting the record straight.
SHORT REPORT THIS WEEK
I apologize for the short report today. I am out of town for personal things and didn’t have time to write more information, but wanted to follow up on a couple of these issues from Tuesday.
Thank you again for reading our articles and have a great weekend. We will have a new report next Tuesday.
