Back in Beesness on Skyline Road

Bees have returned to the orchards around The Dalles after a historic snowfall that threatened local fruit crops on Monday, April 11.

The Dalles had never had measurable snow beyond April 4, according to the National Weather Service in Pendleton. Their records date back to 1893.

Mike Omeg, the Director of Operations with Orchard View Farms with some 3,600 acres of cherry trees spread throughout Wasco, Hood River and Sherman counties, said the epic snow event on Monday had an almost uniform temperature of 34 or 35 degrees Fahrenheit - from Parkdale to Wasco, and all the acreage in between.

“It’s nothing I would be concerned about,” Omeg said on Monday of it hurting the trees. “I am very confident looking at buds that we will not have damage from this event.”

“The real question is are the bees going to come back out and are they going to pollinate those blooms?” he asked. “I think if we get warm temps, they will work and not mind the snow. We’ll see…