Météo France has announced another cold week over much of France. And this is confirmed, with a drop in temperature which will create an episode of frost. An episode that is all the more worrying as it comes just after days of very hot weather. Some towns in the region have seen the thermometer climb to 27ºC last week. This was the case of Montauban where the hottest temperature was 27.8 ºC. So the arborists in the region are extremely stressed. They actually lived two years with severe frosts and some farms have lost everything.
Plum trees, apricot trees
The most exposed trees because they are already advanced: plum trees, apricot trees but also kiwi trees and vines. Not too worried about the apples yet. Some the night from Monday to Tuesday have already had a sleepless night to light candles or start the sprinkler system which protects the buds.
But the Tuesday night going into Wednesday is even more concerning. The thermometer will go down again. For Jérôme Capel, arborist in the Tarn-et-Garonne in Cazes-Mondenard, we are going graze the irreparable. “We have all the trees that are in flower. We even have small fruits. If the temperatures are normal between -2°c and -3°c we can act. But if we reach -4 or -5°c like last year, it will be out of control and we won’t be able to do anything.”
Less worrying in the Tarn
In the Tarn, the situation is less worrying. The minimum temperatures of this Tuesday morning could locally reach -1°c under shelter (-0.6°c on the official station of Albi). Wednesday, new small frosts are possible with 0°c to -1°c. The vegetation should not be affected too much by these values, because the freezing point was reached for only about 1 hour, at the end of the night. moreover, the shoots (especially in viticulture) are not yet sufficiently formed at the beginning of April to suffer any loss.
The big episode of frost that devastated crops last year, in 2022) was a while ago exactly one year to the day, on the nights of April 3 – 4 – 5 with the thermometer dropping to -4°C for several hours.
From Thursday, the minimums will go up. The weather will remain dry until the Easter weekend with seasonal values.
