Weekly Weather and Crop Update

It was another cool and wet week as reflected in the Weekly Weather and Crop Update from the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca. I did not need to read the weekly update to know it was a cool and wet week but now I know just how cold it was! Temperatures averaged 54.7 degrees and that was 5.1 degrees below normal. Growing degree units totaled 54 and that was 34 percent below normal. Since May 1 we have accumulated 126.5 growing degree units which is 40 percent less than normal.

It seems every May we get a strong low pressure system that moves across the United States which results in cloudy, windy and rainy weather for 2 or 3 days. What is different this May is that one of those major low pressure systems is moving through about every week! Farmers that still have corn to plant will have to switch to a short 100 day hybrid or drop down to a 95 day hybrid. Research at Waseca has shown that a 95 day hybrid can be planted until June 5. Planting corn later that June 10 is "questionable" in Minnesota.