Wet, cold spring is taking a toll on the state’s fruit crops

Monday's late spring snowstorm set a record for the latest measurable snowfall at the Salt Lake City airport but left most southern Utah County commercial orchards undamaged. Other growers say it's too soon to determine possible damage from the storm.

"It's been a challenging spring," fruit grower David McMullin said Monday.

Despite the snowfall, temperatures didn't drop enough to damage young fruit.

"The peaches are OK, and the apples look good," McMullin said.

In other weather-related news, a KSL-TV cameraman was hospitalized in serious condition Monday after being struck by a car while covering a mudslide along I-80 in Salt Lake City.

The crash happened near 2400 East around 3 p.m., said Utah Highway Patrol trooper Cameron Roden.

A driver, possibly looking to change lanes, clipped a semitrailer and spun out of control, striking the cameraman, police said.

"He was transported to the hospital in serious condition, but it looks like he's going to make it," Roden said.

Mike Radice was taken to University Hospital. The extent of his injuries was not immediately known but he was conscious and talking.

Regarding Utah's crops, growers are still waiting to see how the tart cherries fared in an earlier May 7 freeze, which dropped temperatures to about 25 degrees. It took half the sweet cherry crop in McMullin's Genola farm and about a third at the company's Lincoln Beach farm.

McMullin Orchards also has a farm on West Mountain. Temperatures can vary at each orchard, he said.

"It isn't just the freeze," McMullin said. "It's not been a good year for pollination."

Farmers have had to work this May to keep their fruit warm, including using wind machines. "With the wind machines, we could hold the temperatures to 30 degrees in some places," McMullin said.

Other farmers said it was too early to tell whether they suffered any damage from Monday's snowstorm, according to Doug Rowley, who operates a packing shed.

"This has been a different year," he said, also citing the lack of pollination.

The earlier frost damaged mostly apples and peaches, he said of the fruit sent his way.

"We're past the blossoming," he said. "Now we need some heat so (the fruit) can grow."

Heavy moisture, particularly when it stacks up as snow in late May, is unusual, but the rule of thumb for agricultural crops is temperature, said David Bailey, a spokesman for the Utah Farm Bureau Federation in Sandy.

"These past few weeks have caught the attention of fruit growers, but I wouldn't say they are worried at this point," Bailey said, noting that 27 to 28 degrees Fahrenheit is the make-or-break overnight temperature for orchards.