Worries are diminishing over harm to the US Great Plains hard red winter wheat crop because it will not be as freezing this week as originally thought, a private forecaster said Monday.
"Basically there's still not much moisture for the west, but there is no serious cold in sight," said Meteorlogix forecaster Joel Burgio.
Computer weather models late last week had indicated the potential for a blast of Arctic air this week on the Plains wheat crop.
But temperatures this week are now expected to hold pretty close to seasonal normal levels.
There is a lack of snow-cover in the Plains winter wheat region, which is leaving much of the crop vulnerable to harm or winterkill should bitter cold move through the area.
Dry weather since late last summer has stressed the HRW crop in parts of the western Plains, especially in western Kansas, eastern Colorado and in western Nebraska. The dryness kept some of the crop from emerging after it was planted last fall and some of the wheat plants entered winter dormancy without much growth.
A blast of Arctic air earlier in January may have caused some winterkill. But the extent of damage won't be known until the crop breaks dormancy and begins growing early this spring.
Burgio said there was some light snow and freezing rain over the weekend in the east and central portion of the Plains, but the precipitation missed the driest areas of the wheat belt.
"There was around 0.10 inch to 0.30 inch in eastern Nebraska, east and central Kansas and in east and central Oklahoma," Burgio said. "Only traces to a few hundredths of an inch in the dry areas."
Meteorlogix's 6- to 10-day forecast for the Plains from Saturday through Wednesday calls for temperatures to be normal to above normal in the west and normal to below normal in the east. Rainfall will be normal to below normal.
Comments
Comments are closed.