Easter freeze cost Missouri agriculture at least $400 million

JOPLIN, Mo. (AP) -- April's spring freeze across Missouri cost state agriculture at least $400 million, according to an estimate by state climatologist Pat Guinan.

Guinan, with the University of Missouri Extension Service, said the freeze was unprecedented in 110 years of record keeping.

Part of what made it so damaging was that it followed two weeks of unusual warm weather that caused vegetation to grow.

The two-week period from March 21 through April 3 was the warmest for those 14 days in 118 years, he said.

Then an arctic cold front swept in, and the next six days were the coldest Guinan can find in records that go back 118 years.

"So in three weeks, we go from a very unusual mild period to an unprecedented cold period," he said.

Guinan said the freeze hit fruit and nut crops, forage crops and winter wheat.

"Not one county was left untouched," he said.

A survey of the records also found that only one other freeze -- on Armistice Day in 1940 -- even came close to the Easter freeze of 2007 for its devastation. No spring freeze exceeded the devastation and loss reported in April.

Guinan estimates the cost of the spring freeze will top $1 billion nationwide, and said his $400 million estimate for Missouri is "conservative." It does not include losses suffered by small nurseries, homeowners to their own lawns and gardens, and large retail outlets that have garden centers.

Guinan said there have been four "major climate events" in Missouri this spring, including the heavy rains and flooding of June and July, the freeze in April and the "historic" ice storm in January and major flooding along the Missouri River in May.

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Information from: The Joplin Globe, http://www.joplinglobe.com