SC’s warm February was good for some, potentially bad for peaches

Cherry trees and Bradford pears have blossomed. Tulips and daffodils are up. And peach trees will be blooming soon, all about a month ahead of schedule.

That may not be a totally good thing.

“Even the pollen is starting to come out,” said Samantha Wade, plant specialist at Woodley’s Garden Center in Irmo.

It may seem like this was the warmest February ever, but it’s not. Not even close.

The temperature dropped below freezing just four times in February. But there have been 13 years when the mercury has fallen below freezing fewer times than that in February, according to Tenia Morrison, meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Columbia.

“We even had two years when there were no days in February at freezing or below.”

That would be 1927 and 1938. There was one day in 1890 and 1932 . And two days in 1925.

Eight years had three days below freezing: 1891, 1893, 1911, 1918, 1930,1939, 1944 and 1946.

W. Davis Buchanan, president of Buchanan Construction, said warm winter weather makes construction go a lot easier. “For folks doing outdoor construction, it’s very advantageous to not have a cold, wet winter,” he said.

But the main rain, not cold is the main factor on construction sites.

The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration has averages for rainfall per month that construction companies use to build construction timelines. But it’s hard to predict if temperatures are going to affect a job.

“Particularly with site work, such as bulldozers moving land,” he said. “It might be impeded by cold temperatures, but not prohibited.”

While the mild February is pleasant for humans (and dogs and cats and birds for that matter), it also is dangerous for the state’s substantial peach crop, Wade said.

South Carolina produces more peaches than any other state except California. And the crop raked in sales of $90 million in 2015, according to the S.C Department of Agriculture.

“And that has a $300 million economic impact on the state,” said Agriculture Department spokeswoman Stephanie Sox.

Eighty percent of the peaches grown in South Carolina do so along “the ridge,” a geographical feature in Lexington, Edgefield and Aiken counties “that is just really great for growing peaches,” Sox said.

But peach trees that bloom now face a perilous future.

Honey bees are still in hibernation. “So there may be issues with pollination,” Wade said.

And, of course, if March takes a chilly turn and there is a hard freeze, that could be devastating for South Carolina growers.

“At this point the biggest problem would be a late freeze,” Sox said. “So we just have to pray we don’t get that.”