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Warm but still too wet for fieldwork in Minnesota

A south-central Minnesota farmer says although he’s been tempted to begin fieldwork thanks to unseasonably warm conditions, soils are still too wet.

Tim Waibel of Courtland tells Brownfield he just hopes the 50 and 60 degree weather is indicative of what’s to come.

“I would hope that we have early planting again.  Last year we had a little earlier planting to get started, and then we got a little bit of rain.  From what we’ve always seen, the earlier planted (crops) always yields the best of all our planting dates.”

He says if fields were dry enough in his area, some farmers would probably try applying anhydrous or manure this week.

“It is pretty muddy.  We’ve had our fair share of moisture throughout the season, not necessarily with snow but certainly in the amount of rain that we’ve had.  I’ve never seen rain in January, and yesterday we had a fair amount of rain as well.  Certainly something a guy doesn’t see in January and February that often.”

The spring-like weather is expected to be short-lived across the region.

The National Weather Service is calling for temps to drop back into the 20’s by the weekend with heavy snow possible over southern Minnesota Friday.