PORTLAND — Fruit blossom time in the Columbia Gorge usually means a busy — and buzzy — spring, with bees swarming through the orchards, setting up the trees for a hefty harvest.

But in the Hood River Valley a series of cold snaps has kept the bees in their hives, meaning less pollination. Upriver, around The Dalles, the high-value cherry crop has taken an as-yet undetermined hit from unusually low temperatures.

However, agricultural experts say it is too soon to write off the crops.

“In the Hood River area the main industry is pears, and so far with pears and apples we don’t think we’ve had conditions that would result in extensive damage,” said Oregon State University extension agent Steve Castagnoli.

“There are probably some blocks where there was some damage, but it’s not valleywide and it’s not a big percentage,” he said.

Upriver, farmers are still waiting for signs of damage from the cold snap, said OSU agent Tim Dahle.

“We know we got some damage as far as blossoms are concerned three or four weeks ago. It’s too early to assess where the current situation lies,” he said.

He said it takes a few days after a cold spell to know whether the ovules, the part of the blossom pollinated by bees to make fruit production possible, have turned brown.

Even some damage doesn’t mean a poor yield.

“Cherries have a lot of blooms, and you don’t want all of them to (produce) because it would be too much for the tree to support,” he said. “You can have a fair amount of damage and still come in with a reasonable crop.”

He said there was significant damage to earlier-blooming varieties three or four weeks ago, “but a couple of those are prolific bloomers. With good pollination weather they may be able to come in with a good crop, assuming there isn’t significant damage from this past week.”

In five Columbia River Gorge counties in Oregon and Washington the cherry, apple and pear crops can be worth $110 million.

Pollination remains the main concern in the Hood River area, Castagnoli said.

“We’re having very poor weather for pollination,” he said.

He said the lower Hood River Valley is about 2,000 lower than the upper valley, toward Mount Hood, and the jeopardy is greater at the lower elevation.

“They are in an earlier stage of bud development. We’re in a critical state here,” he said

He said results could improve markedly with a stint of warm weather that would bring out the bees.

Another major Oregon fruit-growing area, southern Oregon’s Rogue Valley, apparently escaped major damage to its pear crop.

But the National Weather Service says it was close, with temperatures near freezing at midnight Sunday. Clouds rolled in to head off a more severe temperature drop.

The Medford and Grants Pass areas are having spring weather unlike any since 1948.

“We had 35 degrees at midnight Sunday night with a dew point of 24, which means it would likely freeze in an hour,” said Mike Johnson with the National Weather Service in Medford. “But the clouds came in.”