IRVINE, CA - Good morning, AndNowUKnow readers!

Today, I am bringing you some of the category and weather news from around the industry. Check back twice weekly to see where the rain is falling, the sun is shining, and everything in between.

BRING ON THE HEAT IN FLORIDA

Florida saw rain on Wednesday as we had discussed on Tuesday, as well as lower temps for the day. Today, things are back to normal, but get ready for the heat coming next week. Starting this Sunday and continuing all next week, temps will be well above normal in Florida. Belle Glade, Homestead, and Immokalee will all see max temps in the upper 80°s, with some isolated 90°s and mins in the upper 60°s, possibly getting as high as 71° for a minimum in Homestead on Monday and Tuesday. With these higher temps I would expect veg production to increase. Maybe look for promotable volumes.

Even Plant City further north will see highs in the upper 80°s and lows in the high 60°s. We should see production of strawberries increase as well.

These higher temps continue at least through next Saturday.

ANOTHER CULIACAN COOLDOWN

Today and tomorrow will be the hottest days of the week in Culiacan with high temps reaching 93° and a low of 61° tonight. Looking beyond today and tomorrow is what we do here at Weathermelon, and starting Monday, Culiacan will begin a week long cooldown. Sunday and Monday nights will have a minimum temp of 49° and by Wednesday the minimum temp will drop down to 45°. The minimum temp is forecasted to back up to 50° for Friday and Saturday. Look for production to slow down next week which could possibly help clean up extra inventories brought on from the current high temps.

These cooler temps will also affect the Baja peninsula. If you deal in any product out of San Diego coming from Baja look for possible slowdowns in production next week.

BIGGEST STORM OF THE SEASON SO FAR IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA

It is getting repetitive to state this, but yesterday saw the biggest storm to hit parts of California so far. The biggest rain totals were toward the southern part of the state due to an atmospheric river that was directed right toward Southern California. Coachella saw approximately 1” of rain, parts of San Diego up to 5” of rain and the growing regions of Ensenada, Mexico received 1.5”. Irvine saw 2.5” and Oxnard 1”. Even Yuma received some rain yesterday. Needless to say, this rain should affect harvests.

I wish I could say this is the end of the rain for California, but the current forecast is for another storm to come through next Wednesday.

Further north, the rain is not as intense, but Santa Maria and Salinas are expecting to receive over 1.5” between yesterday through tomorrow.

This is by far the wettest winter in California in quite some time, maybe going back over 10 years.

HEAT WAVE IN THE CITRUS GROWING REGIONS OF MEXICO

The eastern coastal plain of Mexico that includes the states of Nuevo Leon, Tamaulipas, San Luis Potosi, and Veracruz will be experiencing their own mini heat wave this weekend. This is the region with a high concentration of citrus such as Red Grapefruit in Nuevo Leon, Oranges in San Luis Potosi, and of course, the capital of Persian Limes in Veracruz.

Starting today, these regions will see high temps in the mid 90°s and will peak on Sunday with some areas getting over 100°. These temps are about 20° above normal. The minimum temps will be in the mid 60°s for most regions but some will get as high as 70°. These extreme high temps will last through Monday and then will cooldown by 15° on Tuesday.

Thank you again for your support, and we will be back next week with another update.

Weathermelon