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mahantango#1

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    Central PA Spring 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

    in Upstate New York/Pennsylvania

    Posted

    We have certainly been surprised and truly grateful at the overwhelming support, concern and prayers on behalf of our family. We greatly appreciate the people who come each summer to our orchard!

    It was a pleasure to have CBS 21 news come and interview us concerning the impact of the April 21st freeze. The CBS team was both genuine and professional as they assembled the points of interest for the news segment.

    The value of the potential crop loss, as reported, was accurate. As with most farms, every spring brings fresh hope for a potentially good year. But as farming is very weather dependent events like frosts, freezes, insects, or markets can really take a toll on expected income, as we well know. However, whether it’s a great year, average year, or poor year, input costs remain the same. This is a management scenario most farms take very seriously as we do, and prepare for it financially through rainy day funds, insurance, diversity in crops, etc.

    Coping with the emotional aspect of something like this can be difficult and at times discouraging. But regardless weather God choses to prosper us or God choses to shape us through adversity our desire is to honor God in our lives as we move forward. So, as God gives us health and strength we will try again next year (2027) to produce our crops of fresh fruits and vegetables for you, our valued customers!

     

    With much love, 

    Your Honey Bear Family and Staff

    (Including Juliet and Georgia, our granddaughters, who are excited to be old enough to wait on customers next year!)

    • Like 1

    Central PA Spring 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

    in Upstate New York/Pennsylvania

    Posted 

    KEY MESSAGE 2: Frost/freeze risk Monday night/Tuesday morning
over the western and central Alleghenies

Almost a slam dunk for a widespread frost for more than half the
CWA tomorrow night (N and W) - and a freeze in the nrn mtns.
Dewpoints will be 25-30F - just low enough to allow the temps to
be able to drop, but not too dry to keep frost away. Confidence
in frost is near 100 pct, but for freeze is about 49 pct. Due
to increasing confidence, frost advy and freeze warnings seem
likely, but the consensus among the regional offices on this
(midnight) shift was to allow at least one more forecast cycle
for that to happen.

    Central PA Spring 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

    in Upstate New York/Pennsylvania

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Blizzard of 93 said:

    I realized that I never put out my Winter grade for this past season…so here we go, better late than never…

    Overall Grade:  B+

    Each met Winter month at MDT had well below normal temperatures. We had sustained deep Winter feel, with minimal breaks. The cold began right around Thanksgiving & lasted through early March.


    Monthly Average Temps at MDT

    December -4.8

    January -4.2

    February -4.4

    Snow total at MDT for the season ended up at 23.8 , which is 6.1 below seasonal average of 29.9. We got off to a really good snow start in December & January. Then in February, we couldn’t get any storms of note until the February 23rd storm, which then unfortunately under performed & only produced 3 inches at MDT while Philly, NYC & eastern New England  cashed in with double digit amounts. The main issue in Each Winter month was the overall lack of precipitation. We had temperatures cooperate most of the time, but could not get the storm chances to provide more snow. The other issue is that yet again, we got no measurable snow in March. When we were sitting at 20 inches at the end of January, I thought that we were well on our way to an above normal season, but the end game was disappointing.

    Monthly snow totals at MDT

    December  5.0

    January  15.2

    February 3.6

    If we would have reached climo average for the snow total, this Winter would have gotten an A from me, thanks to the sustained cold & snow/sleet cover lasted for over a month.

    This Winter provided several “What ifs” that could have made this season even more memorable with slightly better storm tracks or air mass cooperation.

    Here are a few “What Ifs”:

    -The Boxing Day ice storm tracked just 50 to 75 miles further southwest, we could have got the 3 or 4 inches of snow that Allentown & NYC received.

    -The mid January trough that set up that produced a couple of inches of snow at MDT with a few rounds of light precip, what if it consolidated into 1 significant snow event or if the track was more favorable with the actual events that produced 6 inches or more in Allentown & northeast PA.

    -The major snow/sleet storm in late January that produced 12 inches at MDT… what if the sneaky marginal warm layer that caused the flip to sleet due to the weak primary low that tracked into WV was offset by an earlier or stronger coastal low that could have reduced or eliminated the sleet mix…This storm was the only heavy precip producer of the season. It would not have taken much to get a widespread 18 inches of snow in the LSV.

    -the February storm that gave us 3 inches from the late developing Miller B… what if it developed just 100 miles further southwest… we could have received the 10 to 20 inch amounts that Philly & NYC scored.

    There are a few more chances that ended up not in our favor, especially in the first half of March, but no such luck.

    Overall, there was non stop Winter storm tracking from Thanksgiving to mid March. I was satisfied with this Winter, but also frustrated, mainly due to all of the what ifs that I mentioned. If one or two of those broke in our favor, this Winter would have been great. 
    This Winter was our best season since 20–21 & much better than the last few seasons.

    I wonder what the upcoming winter will bring? Knowing our luck maybe several freezing rain events. 

    Central PA Spring 2026 Discussion/Obs Thread

    in Upstate New York/Pennsylvania

    Posted

    2 hours ago, Itstrainingtime said:

    Taking a break from this thread. You all enjoy your complaining. April was a top 10 warmest ever but reading this thread we're in a relentless freezer.

    Math ain't mathin folks 

    Let us all know when you get back on. We'll have a backlog of posts attributed to the cool below normal temperatures, cloud filled skies, and gusty cold wind at times we have been experiencing since you jumped ship.

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