Is the current climate in North Carolina warmer or cooler than it was 100 years ago?

Peaches suffer cold damage | Hendersonville, NC

Peach farmers in Henderson County are reporting varied damage from two cold spells in the middle of April. Some are reporting the cold nearly wiped out the crop and others say it had minimal impact.

Eddie Lyda grows six acres of peaches at his Apple Haven Orchards. He investigated his crop in recent days and found significant damage to the crop.

“Some of the limbs have one or two peaches on them,” Lyda said. “A lot of the limbs had none.”

He estimates that about 80 percent of his crop was destroyed by the cold weather. The weather impacted white and yellow peaches the most, Lyda said.

“A lot of the people I talked to got the same or less,” he said.
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Peaches used to be a major crop in Henderson County, Russell said. He said his grandfather and other old-timers said the majority of the orchards in Henderson County were peaches 100 years ago. Over time, South Carolina and other states became more competitive.

“People just got away from growing them,” Russell said.