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 the latest around all growing regions.

LOOK FOR GEORGIA AND WEST FLORIDA FALL SEASON TO END TONIGHT

Freezing temperatures tonight and tomorrow in the southern Georgia and northern Florida growing regions should pretty much bring an end to any production still coming from these areas.

Expect the minimum temperatures in the region to be around 32° tonight and 34° on Wednesday night.

Minimum temperatures on Thursday will rise back into the 40°s where they will remain through next Tuesday, but by then the damage will be done.

Per USDA, the following items are still being harvested in the areas; green beans, corn, cukes, bell peppers, eggplant, squash, and tomatoes.

It has been a good run for Georgia growers with production numbers higher year over year on green beans (50 percent higher this year), bell peppers, and squash. Eggplant, cukes, and corn have about the same production numbers as last year. We now turn our attention to southern Florida and Mexico as their seasons come online for these commodities.

NORTHEASTERN MEXICO TOMATO GROWING REGIONS WILL ALSO SEE COLD TEMPERATURES

The northeastern high plateau region of Mexico will also see cold temperatures tonight and Wednesday with a chance of rain, which will negatively impact the remaining crop.

This region of Mexico, which includes production areas of “La Laguna” Torreón, Durango, and San Luis Potosí, will see minimum temperatures in the lower 40°s tonight and tomorrow, with a 50 percent chance of rain today.

These locations are pretty much done shipping for the season with only a handful of growers still sending small quantities of tomatoes to McAllen. However, this cold weather should slow them down even further.

HURRICANE CENTRAL

With less than 20 days left to go in the 2019 hurricane season, there are no potential storms on the horizon in the Atlantic Ocean or Pacific.

This year, the Atlantic saw a small uptick in tropical storms compared to 2018, but fewer actual hurricanes. So far this season, there have been 17 tropical storms with six becoming hurricanes. 2018 had only 15 total storms, but eight formed into hurricanes.

The Pacific Ocean this year was much calmer than 2018. This year saw a total of 18 tropical storms, with eight of them turning into hurricanes. In 2018, there were 23 total tropical storms with 13 hurricanes.

Thank you as always for your support. We will be back later this week with another report.

Weathermelon