The cold snap that moved through the area Sunday brought with it winds gusting at 45 and 55 mph dropping temperatures between 20 and 25 degrees within an hour.

The wind was what caused concern for the winter wheat crop according to Chuck Otte, Geary County Extensions Agent.

“Because of the up and down temperatures it tends to really dry out the surface,” Otte explained. “Then when you have high wend events, like we had Sunday evening, you start to get a lot of dust blowing and you can actually wind up with bruising by the wind driven dust particles.”

Otte went on to say that the area would need multiple days in a row of extreme cold temperatures to damage the crop. He did say that he would feel more comfortable if their was snow on the ground to insulate the wheat in the ground.

“It can get down to ten below air temperature, but with a couple of inches of snow on the ground at one and two inch depths, where the crown of the wheat plan is the critical part, it’s only going to be in the mid to upper 20’s.”

Temperatures are expected to stay below freezing through Tuesday but are expected to gradually increase the rest of the week.