Short Term Dryness Causing Concern
As our corn crop moves out of pollination into grain fill, timely rain is needed. However, the short term forecast is hot and dry. Rain systems that were supposed to bring much needed moisture to Indiana crops this week have not materialized. That along with temperatures in the 90s is putting stress on the corn. Hoosier Ag Today meteorologist Ryan Martin says rain totals toward the end of the week will be less than expected, “We have a system that may bring some rain on Friday, but I have pulled back the rain totals to only around ¼ inch.”
He sees the hot dry weather continuing until the latter part of next week, “We will be hot and dry over the weekend and for the first part of next week.” His forecast calls for an increasing change of rain with sizeable totals beginning around August 11, “The rain will be concentrated in the northern part of the state with totals up to 1 inch.” He added that it remains to be seen if this system will slip into central and southern Indiana..
Martin says we have more moisture on the way long term, but it is going to take a while to get here, “We could see another system around August 14th that could bring up to 1 inch totals.” He said the concern right now is in the short term. There are some areas of Indiana and Ohio that are very dry and crops are in danger.