SPOKANE COUNTY, Wash. — The start of the year brought heavy snow and low temperatures, but that has since transitioned into warmer weather and rainy days.
Maintaining a farm with these kinds of conditions can be frustrating because of the frequent changes.
Marci Green is a wheat farmer near Spokane and deals with the conditions frequently.
“If it’s going to get cold we want it to snow," she said.
Right now, the area is in what farmers call the dormant season. That means winter wheat has been planted into the ground and its growing slow but it won’t emerge until warmer weather rolls through.
When snow is on the ground, that actually benefits the crop, because it acts as a protective layer from frigid temperatures.
The problem occurs when it melts away, because another cold snap could be right around the corner while the wheat tries to emerge.
“We had good crops except it was hard to get them harvested because they were late to start with," she said.
Last year was a mild winter up until February. Then a lot of snow started to pile up on the fields.
It took nearly a month and a half for that to go away and then it never really got too warm during the spring or summer like it normally would.
For Marci, she’s not too concerned about the weather right now but she does have her eye out for anything that may come.
“We don’t want it to get down to in the tens, especially if the wind blows," she said.
If that was the case and no snow was on the ground with the low temperatures, the best bet is waiting it out and hoping for the best.
The following video is a report on unseasonably warm weather causing problems for North Idaho ice fishers.