McAllen, TX (KRGV) — Citrus growers in the Rio Grande Valley say this summer's heat and dry weather left some grapefruit smaller than they should be as harvest begins.

Growers use rings in the fields to check whether grapefruit is ready to harvest. They say the fruit is running small for this time of year.

"We need water to grow, but 96 days of triple digits is painful for everything. So with the mix of lack of water, we are having size issues," Lone Star Citrus Field Operations Manager Michael Flowers said.

Flowers said the citrus showed heat stress after the summer weather and the lack of rain left his fields drier than he wanted. He said that means the grapefruit is smaller than it should be.

“We can't use them. We are early in the season, and that is expected to have small fruit, but at the same time we want to be ahead on where we are,” Flowers said.

The National Weather Service also tracked the summer heat. 

"For McAllen, we actually had a total of 101 days of 100-degree weather, which broke the prior record of 97 days in 2023. Everything lines up perfectly with breaking the prior record," National Weather Service Warning Coordination Meteorologist Barry Goldsmith said.

Goldsmith said dry weather keeps building a soil moisture deficit even after brief summer rain.

"Even when it does rain during parts of summer, when it goes dry again, that soil moisture deficit builds quickly, so you could have a brief surplus, then go back to deficit in a week or two or three," Goldsmith said.

The impact goes beyond growers because less citrus to harvest also means less work for people in the fields. Flowers says dry hot summers are becoming a recurring challenge for the industry.

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