Typically the first hard freeze of the year occurs around October 18th and right now Geary County is still waiting for that freeze.

Chuck Otte, Geary County Research and Extensions Agent explained that local agriculture producers are waiting for that first hard freeze in order to wrap up fall harvest.

“We’ve got stuff that’s hanging on, milo hasn’t died yet. We’ve seen scattered light frost, kind of like what we had this morning (Wednesday). We need a good hard freeze, temperatures down into the mid 20’s,” says Otte.

The National Weather service is calling for the temperature to get down to 23 degrees Friday night.

“That’s what we need, it’s time for perennial plants to go dormant, it’s time for everything else to die off if you will.”

That hard freeze will allow producers to finish harvesting this years milo crop. Otte did say that the winter wheat crop is currently being planted and at this time the conditions are perfect for winter wheat.