February was on track to be one of the warmest February’s on record, until the cold moved in this weekend. Roller coaster temperatures can't be good for budding peaches, cherries and apricots right? Charlie Talbott said the snow can actually act as an insulator and its really sub-freezing overnight temps growers have to be worried about. Talbott has an app on his phone that sounds alarms when the orchard staff needs to get outside and get ahead of the chill. The palisade orchard landscape littered with fans. "We use exclusively the wind machines, the fans,” said Charlie Talbott. “Purging cold air off orchard floor with warmer air from above.” They are the protectors of what can be a fragile forest. After a roller coaster of temperatures the last few weeks how do the crops look now? “We really want them to stay hard fast asleep thinking its winter as long as possible. The 60 degree Februarys weather while it may be nice on the golf course it’s not great for fruit growers,” said Talbott. Anytime the overnight lows drop below 20 they have to start turning on the fans. Charlie Talbott said they have about 50 fans that each reaches about 10 acres. It takes about 5-7 minutes to get each fan going, so when a cold snap does hit, it takes a large team to get everything protected. “There is no pushing a button, you start the engine you bring it to full throttle if its critical you don't have time,” said Talbott. “The lowest temp we saw was 13 that was on Sunday the 26th, that’s pretty low even for February not quite a record, low but very much approaching so,” said Andew Lyons with the National Weather Service. At this time of year some crops are more sensitive to the cold than others. Right now peaches are pretty hearty but apricots and cherries could be in danger of the cold. "The risk is crop loss, there for revenue loss for fruit growers it matters, it's our livelihood,” Talbott said. Though the weather in spring and winter can be unpredictable, the outlook is still good. “That’s how it is in the Spring and Winter, It’s very much of a roller coaster,” Lyons said. “As we stands right now, we have full potential for an amazing crop of everything, the next 8 weeks will kind of tell the tale,” said Talbott. Source - http://www.nbc11news.com