Cherries survive storm

Photo: Contributed

Cherry orchardists throughout the Okanagan had helicopters and blowers on standby with a June thunderstorm rolling through the region, Thursday.

They'll be ready again today with the possibility of more thundershowers.

Early cherry varieties are ripe and ready for picking, and Sukhpaul Bal, president of the BC Cherry Association, says rain has the potential to ruin a cherry crop.

"When the cherry is getting close to harvest, it has a lot of sugar and water," says Bal.

"When the rain falls, if it absorbs more water and there is no more room inside, the skin starts to stretch and gets to the point where it splits open because it can't take any more."

He says fruit that is green is still quite hard and not fully developed, therefore not as susceptible.

Bal has just a few acres of early varieties, so he used blowers attached to tractors to blow the rain away.

He said somebody like David Geen, with hundreds of acres, went with the helicopter option Thursday afternoon.

Choppers could be back flying later today if rain forecast for the afternoon materializes.