On Tuesday it was 82 degrees Fahrenheit in Roanoke. Yesterday in Cape Carteret on the North Carolina coast, we saw the high reach 85 degrees. It was a temperature that I am sure these strawberry plants enjoyed. I took the photograph last weekend at a U-Pick not far off Highway 58 about three miles before it crosses Bogue Sound to Emerald Isle.
This afternoon we had lunch at Mike's on Emerald Isle. It was about 65 degrees when we came out of the restaurant around 1:30 pm. The magnificent fried oysters at Mike's fortified me for the 325 mile drive back to Roanoke.
We took what I call the peaceful way back. Instead of going through Raleigh on I40 we took Route 421 through Sanford and caught Route 220 in Greensboro. We did not even try to drive around Greensboro. We chose to go through town and check how the city had changed since Glenda, my wife, and I met there in early summer of 1973. The growth and change is clearly amazing.
However, the change that struck me the most was the drop in temperature from the coast to Roanoke. By the time we got back to Roanoke around 8 pm the temperature had dipped to 39 degrees on its way to the twenties. There was also a stiff breeze. Apparently the wind chill temperature in Hot Springs tonight is already at 11 degrees Fahrenheit at 11 pm.
Farming is always a gamble. It is always a tough break when the weather deals a deadly blow to a year's crop.
I don't know how far along the strawberries are in the Roanoke area, but I am guessing they might be vulnerable. My guess is that the low thirties won't be enough to hurt the Cape Carteret berries, but the low twenties might be a real problem for the Roanoke strawberries.
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