Summer Weather Arrives, Rain Does Not
Corn and soybean prices moved higher Thursday on a forecast that calls for hot and mostly dry conditions for the next week. HAT meteorologist Ryan Martin says those warmer temps will start this weekend, “Dry conditions hold as we finish the weekend and move through the first half of the week. Temps will be warm and work higher for the first half of the week, in many cases sitting 5-10 degrees above normal over a large part of the state. The temperature climb will come via strong southwest flow, and we think it will be rather breezy for the period through Wednesday. The stronger the SW wind…the more likely we can see ‘blowtorch’ conditions, where temps easily exceed expectations. The best chance of that will be farther west over IA, SD, and even western IL…but we won’t rule it out here. That also means we have less than optimal conditions in our forecast for spraying. The heat is the kind that makes one normally think of pop up afternoon thunderstorms; but, for right now, we think that action will be limited through Wednesday morning.”
The heat will help get this late planted crop up and growing, but we will need some moisture. That is something Martin is skeptical that much of Indiana will see, “The front should kick off some showers in the northern part of the state overnight Wednesday night, and the action continues through the day Thursday. We are putting our rain totals at .25 -.6 inch with coverage at 80% of the state through Thursday. At this point, we do not expect thunderstorm development and no threat of severe weather.”
Late next week there is a chance for more rain. Martin warns coverage may be spotty, “Friday, we should see some sun, but at this point we are hesitant to wave the ‘all clear’ flag. We can’t rule out a shower or two with 30% statewide coverage. However, Friday will be significantly drier than Thursday in a comparative sense. Next Saturday, we actually have some moisture backing back into the state from the old, dying frontal boundary off to the south and east. That will bring scattered showers yielding .05 – 3 inch over about 50% of the state.”
You can get next week’s day by day planting and crop development forecast sent to your e-mail tomorrow, if you sign up today at hoosieragtoday.com.