Mother Nature should behave through harvest before turning wet, cold

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Mother Nature should behave through harvest before turning wet, cold

An atmospheric scientist says U.S. farmers will have favorable weather to finish up harvest across the Corn Belt.

Eric Snodgrass is with Nutrien Ag Solutions. “Harvest has progressed along.  I wouldn’t say it’s been so disruptive that we haven’t been able to get a crop out or we’ve had a lot of crop loss due to inclement weather, but that pattern is going to shift at some point.  It may not be until we get into the month of November that we actually get some sustained colder air in place.”

He tells Brownfield growers should expect Mother Nature to bring precipitation this winter from a La Nina weather pattern. “But you get into an active storm track from what we call the Colorado low that goes from Colorado all the way through Chicago to Ontario and Quebec. Then an active Ohio River Valley storm track, which means the likelihood that the Midwest going into a dry winter is relatively limited.”

Snodgrass says other parts of the Corn Belt might be different. “The wildcard is going to be the upper Midwest over toward the Dakotas and back to Montana because last year even though there was a La Nina we saw major snow drought in that area. I’m not predicting that this year.”

He says any moisture this winter will recharge dry soils, which is needed in areas that suffered from the drought.

Eric Snodgrass with Nutrien Ag Solutions:

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