Monday, May 3, 2010
Yet Another Dry Month
All four months of 2010 have been drier than normal in the Rockford area. We've seen 5.84" of precipitation (including melted snow) so far this year, which is 3.30" below our normal-to-date value of 9.14". April continued along this same trend-line of below normal precipitation. We had 2.89" of rain in April 2010... nearly 3/4 inch below our average value of 3.62". Although the warm, dry weather might feel nice, it's obviously bad news for farmers and for fire danger. There is hope for rainfall this coming week with chances of rain in the forecast for Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. --TS
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I think the dry weather is a mixed blessing for farmers. From what I've been hearing, corn planting is actually moving along rapidly as the drier weather make fields more accessible. Also, I think we're going into this year with decent soil moisture, which can help protect against minor precip deficits for a while. Of course with temps about 6-8F above normal across the region last month, water demand is higher too. If this trend continues it can definitely spell bad news for water-dependent activities like agriculture. So far the U.S. Drought Monitor (http://drought.unl.edu/dm/monitor.html) is not showing any signs of drought, but it would be wise to keep an eye on things as we can really dry out quickly this time of year!
ReplyDeleteM.W.,
ReplyDeleteThank you for the informative response. I didn't realize that a dry spring can accelerate planting. It makes sense, though. Sounds like some wetter weather would be nice in the near future, though!
--Ty