Minnesota Apples Wiped Out Tonight?
In the picture are a couple apple trees with beautiful blossoms. Given the forecast you have to wonder how they will look about mid-morning Tuesday. The National Weather Service has issued a frost advisory for 4:00 Tuesday morning. The forecast is for a low temperature of 33 degrees. You have to hope that maybe the clouds hang around until after sunrise tomorrow morning which can trap warmer air near ground level, or maybe the temperature stays a little warmer the in the forecast.
I have had David Bedford PhD. who is the apple breeder at the University of Minnesota Landscape Arboretum as my guest on KDHL's Am Minnesota Program and we have talked about cold temperatures when the apple trees are blossoming. If the blossoms are killed by frost the tree will not produce apples this year. I remember a few years ago we saw a late spring frost and greatly reduced the apple crop.