March brought near average days and cooler than normal nights to Rocky Ford. The high averaged 62.4° which was just about on track with the average of 62.6° for the month. The average low was 23.0° which was cooler than the normal avearge low of 26.9°. Extremes ranged from a high of 82° on the 15th to a low of 3° on the 24th. It was a dry month with 0.37 inches of precipitation. The normal value is 0.88 inches. There was 3.5 inches of snow measured during March.

February temperatures were on target by day and below normal at night at Rocky Ford. The average high of 52.5°was right where it should be for the month. The overnight lows averaged 16.5° and were below the normal value of 19.0°. Temperature extremes ranged from a high of 68° on the 17th to a low of 7° on the 19th. Dry conditions continued into the month of February with only 0.09 inches recorded. The normal for the month is 0.33 inches. There was 2.5 inches of snow measured during the month with a maximum snow depth of a Trace recorded on both the 21st and 24th.

January brought warmer than normal days and cooler than normal nights to the Rocky Ford area. The high averaged 50.3° which was above the normal value of 48.3­°. Overnight lows averaged 11.9° compared to the normal value of 14.8°. Temperature extremes ranged from 74° on the 23rd to -3° on the 15th. It was a very dry month in the Arkansas River Valley with just 0.06 inches of precipitation measured. The normal value is 0.28 inches. There was 1.2 inches of snow recorded during the month at Rocky Ford, all of it falling on the 29th.

December 2012 brought warm days and chilly nights to the Arkansas River Valley. At Rocky Ford, the average high temperature was 50.3°, which is above the normal December high of 47.2°. The average low was 11.9 degrees, which is below the normal low of 15.2°. Extremes ranged from a high of 74° on the 24th to a low of -3° on the 15th. December is typically a dry month of southeast Colorado, with the 30-year average precipitation at Rocky Ford being 0.36 inches. Only 0.06 inches was measured in December 2012, which fell as 1.2 inches of snow on the 29th.

Decreased runoff expectations from lower-than-average snowfall amounts in the southern Rockies are expected to contribute to a much lower winter wheat harvest than usual this year. According to the National Agricultural Statistics Service, only 18% of this years' winter wheat crop in Colorado is rated at 'good' or 'excellent', compared to 79% for April 2010. The 2010 winter wheat harvest totalled 106 million bushels; current conditions make it doubtful that the region will top the 10-year average of 67 million bushels.

Read more online at: Forbes.com