Ag Weather Impacts

Ag Weather Impacts

After the last couple nights of near to below freezing temperatures across portions of the Columbia Basin, we can look forward to the warming trend beginning today and continuing into the weekend. The upper level trof and dry northerly flow that is bringing the unseasonably cold temperatures is drifting to the east and temperatures are expected to be close to normal for Wednesday and Thursday and slightly above normal for the weekend and early next week. For this next week, dry weather will be the rule. April will be going down in the record books as warmer and wetter than normal on most farms. The least rainfall was less than ¾ inch at Selah and Sunnyside. The Walla Walla and Dayton areas were the wettest with 3 to 3 and ½ inches. But, the last significant rain was about 10 days ago, So, this expected 2 -3 week stretch of dryness will allow a good catchup for field work and planting. Soil temperatures at the 2 inch depth are in the 55 to 60 degree range, except lower 50s in the wetter soils from Dayton and Walla Walla down to Weston and Athena. Soil temperatures should recover to lower to mid 60s for Saturday through Monday. Where soils are getting too dry, crop water use this next week will range between ¾ and 1 inch for wheat, alfalfa, and lawns. If you need to spray, you can expect locally breezy conditions today, but lighter winds for Wednesday through the weekend.
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