Pam Knox is a climatologist with the University of Georgia. She says fruit trees need the cold.

"Peach trees, apple trees need a certain number of hours that are fairly cold to get the fruit to develop so they get a good yield for the next growing season," she says. "It's been way below normal this year, because December was so warm."

She says December's warm temperatures have made more of an impact than this week's freeze by making blueberries in south Georgia blossom and fruit.

Though those plants are not expected to survive this week's cold, Knox says this year's blueberry crop shouldn't take much of a hit.

Tags: peach, UGA, farmers