Orchard operators across West Virginia say the prolonged cold snap could leave their apple and peach crops could be a total loss.

A local farmer, however, may have dodged the frigid temperatures.
"There's a good berry right on top," Bill Stacy told us. "We're in pretty good shape on those."

Stacy grows strawberry crops on his five-acre farm just outside Marietta. Unlike traditional crops, they're planted early in the year, and harvested in the first days of May. That means Stacy has to keep a close eye on the early spring calendar.

"If it dropped down to 32 all of a sudden," he says, "if the clouds parted and the heat left, it would be a pretty serious situation."

The Stacys estimate 5 to 10% of their crops may have been lost last week. But they're also optimistic. That means 90% of their strawberries survived.

"My father always taught me never to give up on a crop. I don't want to give up on these. There's a lot of strawberries in that field yet."

And Stacy knows he's more fortunate than other fruit farmers, especially those south of us.

"You know when Charlotte has 21 degrees this time of the year," he says, "that is extremely serious to strawberries I'm in, and to the peach crop, too."

West Virginia University Extension officials say heavy losses are likely, especially to crops which began growing during the unseasonably warm weather.

Their buds popped out much earlier than normal. That made them vulnerable when the deep freeze hit.