On April 17 a spring freeze wreaked havoc on the orchards across the Western Slope, resulting in nearly complete crop loss in Delta County and severely damaging fruit on smaller, less well-equipped farms in Palisade. April snows and freezes aren’t uncommon on the Western Slope with the National Weather Service reporting that the average last freeze occurs late in April for much of the area. However, the timing of such freezes and the weather pattern can devastate the crops in the vulnerable fruitlet stage. “In this specific frost event we had snow the day before which created a humid orchard and at night we had a great inversion, a high pressure system that trapped the moisture and made the air very still,” said Chris Schmaltz of Clark Family Orchards in Palisade. “Normally, you wouldn’t want an inversion unless you had a wind machine.…