Weekly Weather and Crop Update
Reading the weekly weather and crop update from the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca indicated another unusual week of weather. After seeing temperatures much above normal the previous week, it was the exact opposite the last week of June. Temperatures were more like September or the middle of May. Temperatures averaged 61.8 degrees, or 9.2 degrees below normal. Rainfall was close to normal at 1.29 inches, which was only .16 inches above normal.
Growing Degree Units totaled only 86.5, which was 40 percent below normal. However since May 1, we have accumulated 849.5 Growing Degree Units, 2 percent above normal. That means while last week was much cooler than normal, the previous week was much above normal. As Tom Hoverstad said, "this year it is the average of the extremes." Corn only grew about a foot this past week, which was much less than you would expect for the first full week of summer. The bright side is we have received some nice rains and the temperatures are starting to warm up closer to normal.