Spring planting lags as farmers battle wet soils
Monday's Minnesota Crop Report left little doubt that another cool wet spring is challenging Minnesota farmers.
Just 53 percent of Minnesota's corn crop has been planted so far. That's well behind the five-year average of 81 percent. A mere 4 percent of Minnesota's corn crop has emerged from soggy cool soils. That compares to 38 percent on average over the past five years by this date.
Monday's deluge only helped sustain already wet fields observed across Minnesota and the Upper Midwest.
Take a look at Monday's rainfall totals courtesy of Weather Underground. Widespread totals of 1 to 2 inches-plus poured down around the metro in the midday deluge.
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The heavy rains caused ponding on metro roads, and spiked levels of Minnehaha Creek about 1.5 feet in just a few hours. Here's the U.S. Geological Survey gauge at Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis.
Virtually all of Minnesota's topsoil now shows adequate to surplus moisture. Monday's report lists 31 percent of Minnesota topsoil with too much moisture.
One look at the 30 day rainfall map from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service and you can see why so much of Minnesota is soaked. Most of eastern Minnesota has seen over 5 inches, with some rain gauges bursting with nearly 10 inches in the past month.
The most recent U.S. Drought Monitor makes it clear most of Minnesota is drought free.
The outlook is for drought to disappear form southwest Minnesota in the next few weeks, even as a growing drought intensifies in the Southern Plains.
Forecast: Warmer and drier
The good news for soggy Minnesota farmers? A major shift in upper air patterns will bring warmer and somewhat drier weather just in time. As a ridge of high pressure builds in this week, a sting of sunny, dry and warmer days follows.
Here's NOAA's Global Forecast System output, which suggest a shot at 80 Tuesday with a string of drier and sunnier days ahead.
Summer-like holiday weekend?
The big Memorial Day weekend still looks warm. The European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts model is cranking out a few hours of showers, but with temps near 80 and many dry hours I'm optimistic this could be one of the better Memorial Day weekends in recent years.
Overall the next two weeks look warmer than average.
Red on the weather maps? What a concept.