Ag Weather Forum

While cool and wet conditions dominated the first half of the growing season, the switch to heat has come in July and continues to be rather consistent.

As storms developed across Iowa on Monday afternoon, they advanced east and eventually impacted southern Wisconsin, Illinois, and northern Indiana. Widespread wind damage, large hail, and a few isolated tornadoes accompanied the storms.

The NOAA/NCEI World Climate Report places a 60% chance of 2024 finishing as the warmest year on record.

An expanding, upper-air ridge in western North America is providing above-average temperatures to the Canadian Prairies this week. Temperatures may remain near or above average next week as well, giving wheat and canola a boost.

Drought is a concern across parts of the Eastern Corn Belt as corn starts pollinating, but areas of heavy rain showers from remnants of Hurricane Beryl could lessen the threat of drought during the coming days.

Potent greenhouse gas methane is the main target of Denmark's carbon tax, which is set to begin in 2030.

Stretches of heat and a lack of good rainfall in June have caused flash drought conditions to develop or worsen in portions of the Northwest, Eastern Corn Belt, South, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic.

A warm and active pattern has been the case for the last couple of months for most of the country, especially the Corn Belt, despite changes to the upper-level pattern. A bigger change coming this weekend should allow for more mild temperatures to settle into the middle of...

Milder winds with La Nina are expected to support more tropical storms and hurricanes than average during this season. Already we're seeing the first named hurricane of the season, an extremely dangerous Category 4 one, to start this week.

It has been an active pattern through the Canadian Prairies so far this year, but it has also been chilly. Summer temperatures have been very rare and frost damage has been more common than heat stress. The forecast for at least the next week is not promising to get more...

Fields across southern Minnesota and northern Iowa are experiencing above-normal precipitation this June, but this is a stark difference from June 2023 when these areas were experiencing flash droughts.

Most wheat areas have had beneficial rainfall in the past six weeks, notably in Western Australia.

A ridge anchoring into the Southeast will provide the opportunity for systems moving through Canada to drag cold fronts into and through the Corn Belt on a regular basis. Increased precipitation should be noted for many areas.

During the summertime, the storm track is often through the Canadian Prairies, but usually it takes a break, sometimes for long stretches. So far that hasn't happened, and the forecast is not counting on it either.

Only one of the top six DTN analog years had a NOAA Oceanic Nino Index (ONI) reading at the La Nina threshold before the July-August-September time frame.

Upper-level ridges of high pressure can be counted on for locating hot and usually dry weather. During the summertime, that can lead to excessive and stressful heat. Pay attention to the forecast of these ridges throughout the summer to follow the intense summer...

An active weather pattern across the Canadian Prairies this spring, and especially in May, has led to vast reduction in drought coverage across the region.

After coming off one of the strongest El Nino events on record in 2023, the forecast has been for La Nina to develop in summer 2024. That is taking longer to develop than models anticipated earlier this year, but is still forecast to take place. The longer that La Nina holds...

The impact of severe storms with tornadoes and high winds is evident in the year-to-date billion-dollar damage threshold summary.

Though some showers are moving through, it is a much drier and milder pattern in the Corn Belt this week. But the upper levels will do a 180-degree shift and bring in some heat while the middle of the country gets active. Some problems and benefits will result.