A blog post by Luigi Trotta, VP of Agricultural Operations at Nate’s Hives

Honey production depends on a lot of things: colony strength, forage availability, timing, and management. But, weather can affect almost all of them. The 2026 season across North Dakota, South Dakota and Montana provided a good example.

What stood out this summer was not just that some months were warmer, cooler, wetter, or drier than normal. It was how quickly conditions changed from one extreme to another. One month could be cool and wet, followed by a hot and dry stretch a few days later. For honey bees, this kind of weather pattern can be particularly difficult to manage compared to a season that is simply warmer or drier than average.

A good honey flow needs several things to come together at the right time. Plants need enough moisture in the ground to keep growing and producing nectar. Temperatures need to be warm enough for nectar production and for honey bees to fly, but not too hot and dry to cause plants to shut down. Rain is definitely important, but if it comes during peak bloom, honey bees can be kept in the hive for days at a time. So, when we talk about “good weather” for honey production, we really mean good timing.

That is also why looking only at seasonal averages can be misleading. Even if summer might seem close to normal for total rainfall, distribution can make a big difference. If May was dry, June turned wet, July became hot and dry and August brought heavy rain, every part of the nectar flow may have been affected differently. Rain that comes in August does not help a plant that was under stress in July, and it cannot replace a honey flow already lost.

In beekeeping, sometimes a week or two of adverse weather can make a big difference. Major nectar flows do not last all summer. They come in fairly short windows, and if weather turns against us during that window, production can drop quickly.

This is probably one of the most difficult parts of producing honey: We can keep colonies strong, but very little can be done when weather shuts down nectar production across an entire region.

We cannot irrigate the thousands of acres surrounding our yards, make flowers produce nectar during a drought or make honey bees fly during several days of rain. This is why beekeeping requires constantly looking for ways to improve. Every season provides lessons about forage, yard placement, colony health, nutrition, queen quality and hive management. While weather will always influence the outcome, our responsibility is to continue learning, adapting and positioning colonies to capitalize on favorable conditions when they occur.