Cold temperatures last winter cut this year’s apricot crop

SPOKANE, Wash. (AP) - A late cold snap last winter has cut the production of Washington apricots in half.

The Washington State Fruit Commission says the state normally produces 5,000 tons of apricots per year.

But The Spokesman-Review reports that the yield this year is only about 2,500 tons.

Washington produces about 20% of the nation’s apricots.

The commission says frost in February, when apricot trees had already bloomed, hurt production.

Apricots produced in Washington are shipped all over the country.

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Information from: The Spokesman-Review, http://www.spokesman.com