Ag Weather Impacts

The winter solstice occurs this afternoon at 223 pm. Now this is the 2nd out of 4 significant dates in the winter period. Of course, today has the least daylight of the year and is the mid-point of what I call the 14 weeks of Solar Winter which began in early November when the sun angle is less than 30 degrees and the sunrise to sunset is under 10 hours. The next important date is in early January when sunrises begin earlier and then mid January when the normal daily temperatures begin to increase. The next couple weeks, however will feel a little cooler, but even then the coldest temperatures in the Columbia Basin likely won't go lower than the 20s. As far as precipitation is concerned, we're looking at mostly dry weather today and Saturday. Rain will arrive Saturday night and early Sunday followed by 6 to 12 hours of dryness before the next chance for precipitation Sunday night and early Monday. Rainfall amounts of a quarter to half inch are likely on most farms. So if you add this to the ¼ to ¾ inch we got in the past week, we starting to see some beneficial moisture. By Monday afternoon, it's pretty much dry conditions for Christmas, so if you really want a white Christmas, you'll have to head to the mountains, where some areas above 4500 feet have recently had over a foot of new snow with more expected tomorrow night into Monday. I'll be back on Monday for a special Christmas eve program.