Triple digit heat found Indiana and much of the Corn Belt this week. There’s been a lot of speculation about what that might do to the crops out there.
Hoosier Ag Today Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin says Thursday was the pinnacle of the heat, with temperatures moving lower going into the weekend. Perhaps the bigger story though is the lack of precipitation in his forecast now through Labor Day weekend.
“No good rains. Now, when we’re talking about good rains, I’m talking about 80%-90% coverage of the state, everybody’s seeing at least a quarter of an inch, nothing like that is in our forecast through Labor Day now. So, it’s going to be into September before we see some meaningful rain.”
Parts of northern Indiana did see some rain throughout the week, but Martin says, “A lot of them here, at least as of late as the heat was going away, were heat-based convection, so very hit and miss. And so, Northeast Indiana may be picking up a deluge of rain, but you get over into Elkhart County, Kosciusko County, central part of the state, those totals are falling off quickly. Even Northwest Indiana isn’t seeing a whole lot. So, a lot of areas are getting missed and that’s why we’re talking about good rains being a ways out. I just don’t see good coverage in here in the short term.”
Martin, who also farms in northern Indiana, says of crop conditions following the heatwave this week, “I honestly don’t think this current round of heat has taken anything off the top. I think what was taken off the top of this crop happened back in June. I don’t think that we hurt these crops at all. I think we’re in the exact same place we were before it got hot this past week.”
You can hear Martin’s full Indiana Farm Forecast each day in the HAT podcast wherever you listen to podcasts.
