Weekly Weather and Crop Update

Cool and dry best describes last weeks weather. In fact it was the coolest temperatures we experienced since the middle of May. Temperatures last week averaged 65.4 degrees which was 5.9 degrees below normal. The low temperature on August 4, 2020 dropped to 45 degrees at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca. That was only 2 degrees above the all time record low for that date.

Growing degree units totaled 110 and that was 26 percent below normal which was not surprising given the cool temperatures. Since May 1 we have accumulated 1715.5 growing degree units. Even with the cool temperatures last week we are still 5 percent above normal. The normal precipitation last week is 1.03 inches and there was no rainfall measured last week at the Research and Outreach Center at Waseca.

The corn crop is moving along nicely and it is in the milk stage or R3. This is also called the grain filling stage. Beans are in the R5 or pod filling stage and will continue to flower and set pods. An inch of rain sure would be nice!