The dry week predicted a week ago in the HAT Seed Consultants Planting Forecast has come to pass, and significant planting progress was the beneficiary in Indiana and across the Corn Belt. But the dry stretch now gives way to some active weather patterns. HAT chief meteorologist Ryan Martin says you’ll have to deal with much narrower dry windows now.
“We’ve got a big storm complex that moves through this upcoming weekend that can give anywhere from a half to two inches of rain,” he said. “A system at mid-week can do the same, half to two inches. Coverage on both of those systems will be pretty much all of the Hoosier state. Then we’ve got a system that comes in Memorial Day weekend. We could be looking at upwards of an inch of rain there, but my concern is that we see this turn into a long, slow moving, drawn out process with an upper level low parking over the Great Lakes. That would do two things: allow for rain to hold on a bit longer, but also cause us to just not have much drying. A lot of clouds and not much else.”
Another wet system will follow as June begins. Martin says the dry stretch was a godsend but won’t be repeated soon. Along with the dry we’ve had more summerlike temperatures, and that is likely to change somewhat.
“We do expect temperatures to be pulling back here over the course of the next little bit,” Martin explained. “Summer like temperatures that we saw this past week aren’t going away for a little while, but I think temperatures are just going to pull back to normal. I’m not expecting a large-scale push of well below normal temperatures at this point. We might see a degree or two below normal for a day or two, but overall, it’s not going to be a long term scare. The winds are also going to be pulling back just a little bit after seeing excessively windy conditions the past several days, but when you’ve got big, strong systems coming in a lot of times you ramp those winds up with it.”
So, it’s not likely to be completely calm either. The complete planting forecast for the next ten days is delivered free by Hoosier Ag Today email Saturday morning, and every Saturday, sponsored by Seed Consultants and Kokomo Grain. Register to receive it in your inbox at www.hoosieragtoday.com.