HOVERING HELICOPTERS KEEP ORCHARD FROM BEING DAMAGED

JACKSON -- An all-night effort to save Pioneer Orchards' apple crop from freezing weather was a success, orchard owner Stanley Beggs said.

Two helicopters flew slowly through a warm layer of air 100 feet above the orchards early Monday morning, forcing the air down onto Beggs' 23,000 apple trees.

"It worked just like we prayed and dreamed it would," Beggs said.

Beggs said the temperature dropped to a critical 27 degrees around 1 a.m. That's when the helicopters went to work.

The pair flew in two-hour stints through the early morning chill until sunrise, stopping only long enough to refuel. Beggs said the helicopters raised temperatures between 3 and 6 degrees. He said it was important to keep the apple buds' temperature above 27 degrees.

"Just before daylight it dipped on down to the lowest temperature we recorded, which was 24 degrees," Beggs said. "Of course when the sun popped up the temperature came up right away."

Beggs brought in the helicopters from Black Rock, Ark., and Paducah, Ky. He said the pilots have done this kind of work before but had different ways of doing the same job. One pilot covered his portion of the orchard faster than the other.

Beggs said the slower helicopter raised temperatures more dramatically than the faster one; but since it took longer for that helicopter to make the circuit the temperatures would drop back farther. The faster helicopter seemed to keep the temperatures steadier.

Before sending the helicopters up, Beggs said workers built a smoky fire that told them where the warmer air was situated. He said the smoke flattened out when it hit warm air.

Scott Beggs, orchard manager, took samples of the tenderest buds in the area of the orchard that was exposed to the greatest cold and said the operation was a complete success.

The National Weather Service in Paducah said the cold temperatures will hold off through today but another cold front is scheduled to make its way through this evening. While temperatures shouldn't be falling to the same lows as Monday morning, Monday and Tuesday should be the week's warmest days, service hydrologist Mary Lamm said.

A slow and continuous warmup is expected north of Missouri that will add to already overloaded streams. Lamm said some smaller rivers in Minnesota and the Dakotas are experiencing record flooding.

Some of that is being reflected in the Mississippi River, which will crest at 37.5 feet by Saturday, 5 feet over flood stage in Cape Girardeau. The river is expected to rise today to 31.5 feet, up from Monday's stage of 29.4 feet.

Water should be high enough by Friday to require the Themis Street floodgate to be closed. That gate is shut at 36.2 feet. The Broadway Street floodgate requires the river stage to be over 38.7 feet before it is closed.

Lamm said she doesn't expect the river to continue to rise past Saturday's crest. Despite record snow in the north this year, Lamm said the weather service still expects only moderate flooding in the middle Mississippi region.

The only thing that would disrupt that scenario is an unforeseeable spell of heavy rains. "If everything goes along the way it has we should be fine," she said.