Tom Hoverstad SROC July 2021 NOT as Hot and Dry as July 1988

If you are a farmer, and are old enough, you will remember the drought of 1988. Every dry spell or drought since has been compared to the drought year of 1988. I have heard farmers, elected officials and many others say the drought this summer is worse than 1988. Well, July of 2021 was not as hot or dry as July of 1988 according to the weather records at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca!

When the calendar flips to the next month I always call Tom Hoverstad Scientist at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca to discuss the previous month's weather. It was a little later this month as I was busy driving back and forth to Farmfest and Tom was out last week. So, at Waseca how hot and dry was July of 2021 compared to 1988?

Tom said it was not nearly as hot in 2021 as out average temperature was 2.7 degrees cooler than July of 1988. Plus we received 2 inches more rain than in July of 1988. In 1988 we received only .6 inches of rainfall while the lowest on record was .3 inches going back to the Dust Bowl year of 1936. However, there are some areas that have just been unlucky and did not catch some rain that was received in Waseca.

attachment-TOM SROC JULY 2021 WEATHER

That seems to be the theme of the 2021 growing season, very spotty rainfall. One area got lucky and a few miles down the road they were missed. Click on the link and listen to Tom discuss our July weather, how it compares to 1988 and our crop potential.