Frost window pushes later in south eastern Australia

A BOM spokesperson said the reading of -0.1 at Hopetoun was the first time a below zero value had been recorded at that site since it was opened in 2004, while the -0.8 at Longerenong also appears to be the latest recorded frost at that weather station.

Across the border, Loxton recorded temperatures of 0.8, while other centres in the east of the state recorded light frosts.

However, the farming community has suggested the frost has not caused significant damage, with most crops too close to harvest to be impacted.

Instead, it is the frost of October 25 that has proved problematic, with the temperature at Westmere, in the Western District, dropping to -2.5.

Andrew Weidemann, Grain Producers Australia chairman and Rupanyup farmer, said the October frost had smashed Western District wheat crops.

“We’ve been down there baling hay for people who have had to cut their crops and you get out in the crop and there is just nothing in the head, it is as bad as what we saw up here in the Wimmera in 1998,” Mr Weidemann said.

Wheat’s flowering pattern means it can be totally devastated by a frost at the right time, whereas barley’s flowering is spread, meaning more chance of some damage but less of a total wipe-out.

“There is good biomass to the crops and good demand for hay so there will still be an income but given many of these crops had really good yield potential prior to the frost it is disappointing.”

Further north, the October frost also damaged pulse crops that had thrown up extra flowers following reasonable rain earlier in the month.

“There will be some losses in crops such as lentils, but the damage is a lot less than in the wheat crops in the south.”

The stretching of the frost window into almost mid-November in the Wimmera-Mallee is the final part of what has been an exceptional year for frost in the region.

Longerenong recorded an incredible 10 nights below zero in September with a handful of others hovering close to that mark.

The string of frost, combined with the dry, caused many farmers to cut canola crops in particular, while there is some concern there may be undiagnosed frost damage showing up in barley now that harvest is starting, although early reports have suggested yields are not too bad.

“Generally yields are on par with what people expected or even slightly better, although obviously most of the really bad crops were cut for hay,” Mr Weidemann said.

While the November 8 event was unusual for north-western Victoria, the frost window is still open in the Western District, southern NSW and lowland eastern Victoria, along with the Alphine areas where frosts can occur virtually at any stage of the year.

The BOM spokesperson said there had been a significant frost event in sub-alpine eastern Victoria in mid-November 2006, while Rutherglen, near the NSW border, had recorded a reading of 0 exactly on December 4, 1984.

Westmere also recorded a heavy frost, -2, on November 16 this year.