Eastern Washington State is one of the premier growing regions for sweet cherries in the world, possessing both good soils and climate. But cherries have weather vulnerabilities that can cause severe loss of fruit. While frost is not an issue this year, rain just before harvest begins can cause a degradation in the fruit, causing splitting which reduces the value of the fruit significantly. While the fruit can still be eaten or used for juice, it cannot be sold since the splits make them vulnerable to mold and are, of course, unsightly.
Read more about this on Cliff Mass’ blog at https://cliffmass.blogspot.com/2016/05/cherry-weather-worries.html. He points out that the heavy rain that hit California this year just before cherry harvest dropped the value of the crop by 50%.
