SANTAQUIN » Utah County fruit growers think they may have escaped heavy crop damage despite nearly a week of cold temperatures and snow.

Grower Phil Rowley says climate tests on his cherries, apples, peaches and apricots showed the fruit could stand temperatures as low as 26 degrees Fahrenheit. Rowley may have lost up to 10 percent of new buds on trees at his South Ridge Farm. Temperatures there dipped to 27 degrees.

A Wednesday night storm dropped up to a foot of snow in parts of Utah County.

Rowley says tart cherries can handle temperatures of 25 degrees and may have some spared some damage by cloud cover and rising daytime temperatures.

Fruit grower Robert McMullen predicts about 20 percent of his sweet cherries may have been damaged.

Growers say it will be mid-May before they adequately assess any damage.