With a few exceptions from minor rainfall in spots in the Corn Belt, a weather window's expected to stay open through the next few days, allowing corn harvest to advance and soybean drydown to continue. Meanwhile, the drier pattern will help Plains farmers get their winter wheat crop in the ground.
The pattern's expected to remain in place through the next 5 to 6 days, until a wetter trend moves in, forecasters say.
"Rains are occurring across the central and northeastern Plains and far northwestern Mid-west, but no major delays are occurring to corn maturation. Meanwhile, drier weather in the southern and eastern Midwest through the weekend will allow corn harvesting and soy-bean drydown to progress well there," says MDA Weather Services senior ag meteorologist Don Keeney. "Drier weather in the Delta through late week will also favor corn harvesting and soybean drydown there as well. However, showers in the eastern Delta by late weekend will slow harvesting and drydown a bit. Drier weather in the Plains by the weekend will allow winter wheat planting to increase."
Though moisture's expected to creep back into the forecast beyond the next week, frost worries should remain low to match the low chances of a frost during the 6- to 10-day timeframe, Keeney adds.
"A wetter pattern in the western Midwest in the 6-10 day period will slow corn harvesting and soybean drydown, and will also slow winter wheat planting in north central areas," he says. "Frost threats are expected to remain quite low across the northern Plains and northern Midwest through the next 10 days."
Further down the road, the outlook's wetter in the southern Plains and drier in the Midwest. The former may interrupt wheat sowing, but Corn Belt dryness -- and accompanying mild temperatures -- should keep corn and soybean weather disruptions in the region at a minimum, Keeney says.
"The mild temperatures in northern areas will maintain lower freeze risks, and the mild temperatures in the Plains should ensure the winter wheat there is fully established. The precipitation outlook has trended wetter in the southwestern Plains, but is drier in the central and southern Midwest and Delta. The drier trend in the Midwest, Delta, and western portions of the Southeast will favor corn and soybean drydown and harvesting," he adds. "Rains in the southwestern Plains will maintain moisture for winter wheat establishment. Rains in the Southwest should also improve moisture there. However, drier weather in the north-central Plains will allow moisture to decline a bit."
