Ryan Martin’s Indiana Ag Forecast for September 18, 2018

Dry weather repeats today, tomorrow, and Thursday. Temps will stay above normal, relative humidity values low, and drying will be excellent.

Our moisture for late in the week and the weekend looks less impressive on the first 2 of three chances, but still very, very impressive for Sunday. Therefore, overall, we are leaving precipitation potential for the three-day period unchanged at .25”-1.5” but we are pulling coverage back to about 60% of the state. Rain potential for Friday is very minor, as the trough that moves in has less moisture with it. Saturday action is very minor again and is focused farther south. Then on Sunday, we see strong thunderstorms moving through with heavy rain potential. Northern Indiana may escape, but central and southern Indiana could get pounded. There is plenty of time for these days to see some equilibrium return, but right now, with the same amount of combined moisture condensed down into mostly one day and one rain chance…that is not as favorable of a set up for a crop that is ready to harvest. Still, we do see larger areas that can miss out.

Dry weather is back for next Monday, but the pattern looks to speed up with our next system next week. Rains can be in as soon as Tuesday late evening, and then go through Wednesday. Rain totals remain at half to 1.5” with coverage at 70%. As the rains move in sooner, they also move out sooner, and we think we can put together a dry finish to the week, Thursday into the weekend.  The rest of the extended 11-16 day period is wetter, with a strong front delayed back into the 29^th and 30^th, and then another low comes in from the NW for the 1^st and 2^nd. We could see half to 2 inches of rain combined from those two systems over the 4 days combined when we flip the calendar. Colder air comes in behind the front next week and reinforcing cool air comes behind that late system in early October. The map at right shows cumulative precipitation potential through early October. We still have plenty of moisture to deal with.