WICHITA (Commodity Online) : Extreme cold weather hits most Upper Midwest United States Tuesday and farmers are worried about frost damage to corn crops.

Tuesday morning's temperatures reached down into the danger zone for corn crops along the Red River Valley and only time will tell for certain whether there was any frost damage.



Farmers in the northern portions of the Upper Midwest have been keeping their fingers crossed, hoping they could get their corn off the fields before the first hard frost.

Several areas reported temperatures below freezing and, with wind chill, as low as 25 degrees. The temperatures lasted one to two hours.

The damage will take 24 to 48 hours to show on the corn plants.

It's been a tight squeeze all season for corn growers, who typically need 85 days to 90 days for their crops to mature enough for harvest.

A very wet spring kept most in the area off their fields, delaying planting for four to six weeks, while others were delayed into mid-June. Their concerns were increased when July and August came and went without the usual stretch of hot, sunny days.

Experts began saying the corn was three to four weeks behind. Some growers said their corn crops would not have time to reach maturity, as had happened last year when corn fields all over the Northern Plains were left standing through winter.

But then September came and provided unusually warm weather. Soil moisture was hold-ing up and plant growth accelerated. Farmers began to hold out hope again.

Weather forecasters are calling for above-freezing temperatures for at least 10 days.

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