Harvest Weather Forecast: Dry, Sunny Weather in View for Next 10 Days

[the_ad id=”98426″]Very easy harvest forecast this week. We start things off with a little bit of moisture on Saturday as a cool front (a relatively fast moving one at that) sweeps through the Great Lakes and eastern corn belt. That front brings moisture that will total a few hundredths to no more than .3” over 80% of the state, ending Saturday midday to mid-afternoon. Clouds will break later in the day, and full clearing comes in after that.

The rest of the 10 day forecast window is sunny, warm and dry strong high pressure builds in over the eastern corn belt and acts like a large block in flow of any front/action from the west. Actually, moisture develops on the backside of this strong surface high at midweek next week, and it circulates up the backside and over the top through the Upper Midwest, into Canada, Lake Superior and a few parts of the UP of MI. From this Sunday through early next week (week of the 4^th) temps will be above normal, evaporation at maximum every day, low humidity and we should even put in some decent south and west breezes at times. We see no hindrance in harvest Sunday forward, and the only hurdle will relate to how much rain specific areas got this past week. Those with only an inch or two will likely see action ramp up in the fields Monday, while areas that got heavier totals (3-4-5” or more) will be several days behind that. Still, drying will be swift. The map below shows average temps for the period Sunday forward. Excellent harvest potential here.

Extended Period:

The extended 11-16 day forecast window looks mostly dry too. We see no rain potential through Thursday morning October 7. That afternoon, we may see a few “hit and miss” showers lift into SW and central IN, but only 30% coverage and totals under .25”. Clouds mix with sun for Friday the 8^th, and then we see our best threat of action overnight Friday night into Saturday the 9^th with rain potential of .1”-.5” over 70% of Indiana. Then we go dry again for Sunday the 10^th.

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Weeks 3 & 4:

Not many problems or issues for harvest coming in the week 3 or week 4 forecast either. We likely see that moisture that is setting up just northwest of the region next Sunday the 10^th slide down into the eastern corn belt early in the week of the 11^th, with showers the most likely result. That will put moisture for week 3 near normal, but not excessive. Temps will be well above normal region wide. For week 4 we swing back very dry and could be looking at a good 5-7 day rain free stretch again, allowing for good harvest progression. Temps are above normal that week too to nearly finish out the month, and we think that we COULD be frost free over a large part of the region until almost the end of October.

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Week 3

Precipitation (green: above normal, brown: below)

Temperatures (blue: below normal, orange: above)