Spring climate outlook: What to know as agricultural growing season begins in Horry County

After a cold, dry winter with a significant snowfall, forecasters are calling for above-normal temperatures as the Horry County area prepares for spring and planting season.

Agricultural experts will warn folks not to plant their crops too early because, even if it starts warming up, there will likely be one more freeze before the cold-weather season officially ends.

The National Weather Service began its freeze/frost program Friday, March 14, marking the beginning of the agricultural growing season. The 2025 spring climate outlook anticipates that drought may persist through May, bringing “larger-than-normal wildfire risk.”

NWS meteorologist Tim Armstrong says the freeze/frost program will monitor any freezing temperatures in the forecast and start issuing advisories 12-48 hours in advance of any conditions hazardous to tender plants.

“We see a lot of blueberry and strawberry farmers around here that can have problems with spring freezes,” Armstrong said. “We have a lot of blueberry farmers that will have sprinklers set up in their fields and they can run those to protect their fruit on cold nights. You can have an air temperature of 24, but as long as they’re spraying water the fruit itself never experiences below 32, and they can survive that apparently.”

For the Myrtle Beach area, March 15 is the average date for the last spring freeze, marking the beginning of the agricultural growing season. However, there were no freezing temperatures over the weekend.

The 2024-2025 winter season was the coldest and driest the Myrtle Beach area experienced in over a decade. Armstrong said due to the lack of rain from the last six months, the area is entering the spring with a 6- to 9-inch rain deficit.

This past winter, a weak La Niña, sea surface temperatures of about 33.8 degrees below normal, likely contributed to the dry weather and worsening drought conditions in the Carolinas. La Niña is the cold phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, a naturally occurring shift in water temperatures across the Pacific Ocean that impacts climates across the globe.