![\"Ed](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/REG-L-BC-Orchard_FreezeWeaver740.jpg\")
Ed Weaver, owner of Weaver\u2019s Orchard, examines apples whose growth has been stunted by a late spring freeze that devastated local orchards. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)\nWeaver\u2019s Orchard<\/p>\n
It had been a long, cold, lonely winter.<\/p>\n
When the spring sun finally broke through in mid-April and sent the temperatures soaring to 90 degrees, it had seemed like years since it was here.<\/p>\n
Long-dormant, tightly wrapped buds burst through with blooms on the local apple, peach, cherry and plum trees in Berks County orchards.<\/p>\n
But April wasn\u2019t yet finished with its poetic cruelty.<\/p>\n
On the morning of April 21, a freeze struck southeastern Pennsylvania, sending temperatures as low as 22 degrees in some parts of Berks.<\/p>\n
Jeffrey Stoudt, retired meteorologist and Berks weather historian, wrote in an email that the low temperature of 27 at his Lincoln Park home marked a record for coldest so late in spring during 42 years of record-keeping.<\/p>\n
\u201cSummer-like warmth around 90 on a couple of days this mid-April, even less than a week before the low of 29, might have lulled many into a false sense of security that frost or freezing occurrences should be over until mid autumn,\u201d Stoudt wrote.<\/p>\n
The official low temperature at the Reading Regional Airport was 29, he said. The official record low for that date is 26 from 1982.<\/p>\n
Freezing occurrences in spring after summery heat are not unprecedented, Stoudt said. In 1976, a low of 32 on May 5 came after a high of 97 on April 19.<\/p>\n
The freeze following those days of high temperatures had a devastating effect on the local orchards.<\/p>\n
Frecon Farms<\/p>\n
Steve Frecon, co-owner and orchard manager at Frecon Farms in Boyertown, surveyed the damage as he drove his four-wheel drive pickup truck throughout the hilly orchard.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe April 21st freeze happened when the trees were either in full bloom in the case of apples, or they were setting up fruit already and were post-bloom, so there was fruitlets on the trees, which was the case with the cherries, the plums and the peaches,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
At that stage of growth, the fruit can take temperatures down to around 27, Frecon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe recorded temperatures of 20 and 26. And at those temperatures, at different zones of the orchard, you\u2019re looking at 90 percent loss or more or a complete loss with certain crops,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The first freeze on April 8 took a little bit of fruit away, Frecon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat second freeze was devastating,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fruit froze. The fruit and the flowers just froze.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ed Weaver, owner of Weaver\u2019s Orchard, examines apples whose growth has been stunted by a late spring freeze that devastated local orchards. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)
\nWeaver\u2019s Orchard<\/p>\n
Ed Weaver, owner of Weaver\u2019s Orchard in Plowville, had similar losses.<\/p>\n
\u201cOn April 21st, that night, we were already at midnight down to 28 degrees,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd man, we\u2019re really in trouble here.\u00a0 And by morning, we were down 24 to 25 degrees, just depending on where you were at.\u201d<\/p>\n
The prolonged freeze over the course of the morning hours made the situation worse, Weaver said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe other thing that made it worse is just a few days before that, we had been up in the 90s,\u201d he said. \u201cSo all the fruit crops had really advanced, and a lot were blooming at that time, and whenever you\u2019d get that warm, too, the tissue is, and even the blossoms are so tender, they can\u2019t take as much cold as if it would have, let\u2019s say, it would have just been in the 60s and then went down to 25. I think more would have survived.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Weaver drove a cart through his orchard, he assessed the damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeaches, plums, apricots, nectarines, all pretty much wiped out,\u201d he said. \u201cNow, when you get into apples, there are a few varieties that have a light crop on, but the bad part is, some of our main varieties, like honey crisp, which is also our most valuable variety, you just can\u2019t hardly find an apple.\u201d<\/p>\n
Disaster relief<\/p>\n
Stoudt explained the weather phenomenon that led to the damage.<\/p>\n
\u201cMost later spring or earlier fall freezes occur under clear and calm nights, which maximizes nocturnal cooling, beginning on the ground then propagating upward,\u201d he wrote. \u201cCold air sinks, especially when there is little or no wind to mix out the ground-based cold. Therefore, the lowest planted trees would have been nipped the worst.\u00a0 And in marginal cases, the buds or fruit near a treetop would be less severely nipped than those on lower branches.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Steve](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/REG-L-BC-Orchard_FreezeFrecon731.jpg\")
Steve Frecon shows an apple with a frost line. A late spring freeze devastated local orchards. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
Because Frecon\u2019s orchards are planted on rolling hills, some of his crop at the top of the hills was spared.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo the higher we go, the better we are,\u201d he said. \u201cYou know, one of our best things for our businesses are pick-your-own. By luck, that pick-your-own orchard is around 600 feet elevation. It has a good crop of fruit, so we\u2019ll still be able to take care of our customers as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
A federal disaster declaration was signed by Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins to offer low-interest loans to impacted orchards in 17 Pennsylvania counties.<\/p>\n
\u201cI appreciate the declaration of the disaster and the attention that it brings to the matter,\u201d Frecon said. \u201cBut I\u2019m really not interested in a low-interest loan. All that is is a bridge to another future problem.\u201d<\/p>\n
Weaver agrees.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u00a0 we would really like to see is some disaster relief payments coming from USDA, because they do it with the poultry industry and with a lot of other ag crops, you know, why should they not help us out in that way, too?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
Weaver and Frecon carry crop insurance and would prefer that reforming the insurance process would be more beneficial to them.<\/p>\n
As it now stands, the orchards won\u2019t see any of the insurance payments until next year after the growing season has ended.<\/p>\n
Getting through<\/p>\n
To help get through this year, Weaver has planted more acreage in strawberries.<\/p>\n
![\"Extra](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/REG-L-BC-Orchard_FreezeWeaver738.jpg\")
Extra rows of strawberries have been planted at Weaver\u2019s Orchard to help make up for the loss of the tree fruit crop. A late spring freeze devastated local orchards. (BILL UHRICH\/READING EAGLE)<\/p>\n
Frecon, too, is working on other ways the orchard can get through this crisis.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of the orchards are going try to do events and other activities, and I\u2019d really strongly encourage the public to attend,\u201d he said.\u00a0 \u201cYou know, they need your support this year. If you have a local orchard that lost their apple crop, but they\u2019ve got something else going on, a pumpkin-painting festival, please go to it.<\/p>\n
\u201cGo to it and support them so they can make it to next year.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/p>\n
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