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Wide mix of weather coming to Plains, Midwest and Delta

Brownfield meteorologist Greg Soulje says farmers will likely see a wide range of weather patterns across the Plains, Corn Belt and Delta regions in the coming days.

Soulje says recent cool, dry conditions will likely continue in the Dakotas and Nebraska after a hard freeze Friday morning.

“So, there will be some recurring frosts as well,” he said. “Probably, light freezes well into the beginning part of next week out of the Dakotas, northern, northwestern and upper Midwestern reaches of the Corn Belt.”

He said western Corn Belt farmers should expect widespread rainfall over the weekend but with minor planting delays.

“Some of the driest regions should get some recharge, others maybe a little too much,” Soulje said. “But there will be a sense of equilibrium that plays out for a change. I don’t see any long-term, long lasting field work or planting delays and adequate to maybe some spots with surplus moisture for the springtime season.”

While he said farmers in the Dakotas will be able to get into the field, low soil temperatures might be an issue.

Soulje said severe weather is possible over the weekend for the plains, but…

Unfortunately, some of those more substantial rains are going to miss out on some of the worst drought areas, up towards Bismarck, along the Missouri [River],” he said. “Maybe a quarter in some spots back down into parts of the northwestern and western Corn Belt locals.”

Soulje said farmers in the eastern Corn Belt should expect below normal temperatures for the next several days.

“Especially centered on parts of northern and eastern Wisconsin, the Corn Belt areas at least as they apply, Michigan, Indiana and Ohio,” he said.

And he said farmers in those areas will likely be in and out of the fields with scattered rainfall.

“It’ll be in those same northeastern and eastern Corn Belt locals that we think there may be some ongoing later spring and early summertime rains that may slow the last of spring planting into that part of the Corn Belt.”

He said planting windows will likely start to open again everywhere else next week, after weekend rains in the central and western parts of the Corn Belt, with temperatures working back to seasonal norms.

“Slow moderation on temperatures, we’ll inch our way back to more seasonal norms,” Soulje said. “Probably a little cooler than average here over the next 10 to 15 days in the far eastern corn belt, seasonal warmth across central and especially western areas.”

Soulje said the Delta region has been abnormally wet and cool this spring, but farmers in the region should expect a shift towards standard conditions.

“The Delta and southeastern part of the country, we think with time will return to a little more typical, seasonal normal here in the next probably five to seven days of temperature and kind of a drying out process that will begin as well,” he said.

Soulje said upcoming warm, dry conditions will bring several benefits to farmers.

“They should be able to make inroads on warming soils, better crop growth, germination, opportunities for the last of any peanut or cotton planting down in that part of the country as well,” he said.

He said soil moisture mostly looks good in the Delta region.

Soulje said growers west of the Mississippi River might see above average warming heading into summer with a possible cooler start to summer to the east.

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