Planting Forecast: Cooler Temps Remain, Chances of Precipitation Increase

Cold or cool air is the main talking point of our first planting forecast of 2021. This past week was chilly, and we are set to do it all over again this week, and potentially next week too. The map shows temps for the 10 day period as they compare to normal. Precipitation remains mostly limited in the next 10 days to 2 weeks, although there will be some moisture around. Here is the breakdown.

The weekend will be partly to mostly sunny, although we won’t rule out scattered showers, particularly Sunday over central and southern Indiana. Rain totals will be very minor, and coverage is 40% or so from SR 26 southward. Still, we don’t want to paint Sunday as either a complete washout or completely dry either. Temps will bump up a bit from where we finished last week. Monday will be mostly sunny and dry too.

Tuesday, sun starts, but clouds build. Our next frontal boundary rolls into Indiana. We are looking at a late afternoon/evening arrival in NW IN, and then sweeping through the rest of the state overnight into early Wednesday. Rain totals from that frontal passage will generally be .25”-.5” with coverage at 90%. But, more impressive will be the cold air surge behind. This will rival this past week, and we will spend Wednesday, Thursday and Friday below normal. There should be some sun there, but it will be breezy and chilly.

Clouds increase next Saturday and temps moderate. Rain lifts into the state from the southwest, and we should see rain totals from Saturday afternoon through Sunday morning at .1”-.6” with coverage at 90% once again. The higher part of that range will be over the southern half to third of the state. At the risk of sounding like a broken record again, cold air follows closely into the eastern corn belt. Clouds mix with sun for next Sunday, but temps go cold again, and we stay chilly into Monday.

Extended Period

This extended period is cold to start for next Tuesday. Then temps moderate Wednesday, as a warm front sets up just to our north. That will have the potential to create a few showers I northern tier counties early Wednesday. However, most of the warm frontal precipitation will be farther north in MI and WI. A cold front arrives Thursday with showers and potentially a good batch of thunderstorms. .25” to 1.5” rains are likely with the lightest north and heaviest south. Temps are stable behind the front, though, and stay near normal. After a dry Friday (April 30), we start may with a few scattered showers giving .25” or less over 60% of Indiana. We go dry behind that to finish the 11-16 day period through May 4th.

Weeks 3 & 4:

Temps improve as we go through May. WE will be mostly normal to above normal in weeks three and four. We also will slowly work precipitation up just a bit. We are normal to slightly above normal in our expectations for week 3, and slightly above normal for week 4. However, we have a bias to the drier side of these forecast right now, especially in the northern half of Indiana. We will be watching closely.

Week 3

 Precipitation (green: above normal, brown: below)

Temperatures (blue: below normal, orange: above)

 

Week 4

Precipitation (green: above normal, brown: below

Temperatures (blue: below normal, orange: above)

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