Dry Stretches in the Forecast for First Half of April
Hoosier Ag Today Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin maintains that spring 2020 will look better than spring 2019 (thank goodness). Martin says that across the country, “We’re hearing a lot of stories out there, a lot of folks promoting flooding as being an issue and a lot of gloom and doom. Honestly, right now, I’m not seeing that.”
Here in the Eastern Corn Belt, “I think we’re going to see a lot more variability in temperature than we are precipitation,” says Martin. “We’re in the midst of a situation right now, for example, it’s been dry. We haven’t had any moisture since this past Saturday night/Sunday. Problem is, we haven’t seen sunshine in a lot of areas. So, how can we evaporate?”
Martin thinks we could see three, four, or maybe even five day stretches of dry conditions between rain events here in the near term.
“What we have to watch for then is what kind of moisture comes with the rain events that do come through. What I’m seeing here for the first half of April is a setup that lends itself to rain events that are moderate at the worst. So, we don’t see big thunderstorms developing right now which means I think between now and April 15 or April 20, we have a pretty good shot at seeing some net drying.”
Martin says the second half of April could see more thunderstorm activity.
There is one area that Martin is concerned might get more moisture than most over the next month.
“Southern Indiana, down near the Ohio River, southwestern parts of Ohio, even back into Southern Illinois. If there is an area that I’m concerned about more moisture over this next month, it’s those areas.”
You can see Martin’s Indiana Farm Forecast daily here and you can have it sent directly to your inbox weekdays by subscribing to receive our e-newsletter (see below). You can also hear his forecast each weekday in the HAT Morning Edition Podcast by clicking the play button below.
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