Heard Helicopters? Hudson Valley Farms Fight Frost Overnight:
Did you hear helicopters flying low across the Hudson Valley this week? Local farms and orchards are using helicopters to protect their crops after the drastic temperature drop.
The combination of 80° temperatures last week (which set many orchards into bloom), and then 20° temperatures this week (which killed most of those blossoms), has been a disaster for our local apple orchards. Apples are a big part of the Hudson Valley’s economy: Ulster is the second-largest apple-producing county in the US, and millions of New Yorkers visit the region’s orchards every fall, impacting tourism as well.
I was surprised to learn amongst all of this that helicopters are often used to help save crops from freezing temperatures: “Helicopters mix warmer air currents with cooler air near the ground to raise temperatures and reduce frost risk. A single helicopter can increase the temperature of a 30-acre orchard by 4°F just one minute after passing over the field.”