The vineyards in Texas have suffered this year. The state, which normally doesn't need to heat homes with the oil it produces, had prolonged severe cold this year and now the latest frost recorded ever. North Texas and High Plains regions hit low temperatures on the night of April 20-21. By the third week in April in “normal” years, vineyards are well on their way to producing a large percentage of the grapes grown in Texas. Some vines would be blooming, others beginning to set clusters, and the threat of frost would be in the distant past.
The 'winter freeze' which lasted from February 9-17 already did some damage in parts of the Lone Star state. The cold temperatures were the equivalent of a Spring frost for the Gulf Coast region as vines had started to set buds there and in the Rio Grande River valley had already had bud break. To the east and south, some vines were closer to bud break and, therefore, had more potential for cold temperature damage. According to the National Weather Service, the average date of the last freeze in the Dallas area is March 12.
