GENOLA, Utah — A day after rainfall records that stood for at least half a decade were broken across Utah, local farmers were assessing the impact the intense moisture had on their crops.
“The depth of the monsoonal moisture that actually was able to move up from the southern latitude, sub tropical moisture and get all the way this far north into Utah and spread across the state," explained Glen Merrill, a hydrologist with the National Weather Service.
Harward Farms in Nephi was swamped Wednesday afternoon.
“There was a foot of water around the stand because the storm drains were overcome with all the water. So that slowed up sales for sure," said Jake Harward.
On the ground, the shift from dry, record-high temperatures to drenched soil posed challenges for farmers like Harward.
“Luckily, we got most of our hay bales before it did rain, and so alfalfa doesn't do very good when it's cut and then it gets rained on," he said. "It's hard to get it to dry and have good quality.”
Genola was hit with pea-sized hail, which ripped into the tomato and apple crops of farmer Chris Riley, who estimated he suffered around $10,000 in damage. He added that all the moisture can cause flare ups of diseases with peaches, so they’ll be increasing treatment in upcoming weeks.
On the flip side, all that water has some benefits.
“As far as the crops, they enjoyed it," said Harward, "they liked a little cool down and a little shower.”
It was a nice pause in the dry weather that Merill says will continue this summer.
