Weekly Weather and Crop Update Record Cold
Every week during the growing season Tom Hoverstad scientist at the Southern Research and Outreach Center at Waseca (SROC) writes and emails the Weekly Weather and Crop Update. It is always very informative to read the weather summary along with the planting and crop progress. It was not surprising to see the weather last week described at cold and dry! Rainfall totaled just .02 inches and that was .74 inches less than normal. But how cold was it?
It was this morning that I had a reading of 21 degrees at the Faribault airport when I got to the studio a little before 4:30. However, the reading at the weather station at SROC was 19 degrees. That reading tied the record as the lowest in more than 100 years of weather data at Waseca. The year that that record low temperature was set at Waseca was just back in 2013. That brings back bad memories because it was so wet and cold that many farmers could not get their crop planted and were forced to take the Prevented Plant payment.
I also believe that was the year of the early May snowfall that just made everything worse. Fortunately the forecast is calling for daily high temperatures early next week in the 70's so many farmers have been waiting until later this week or early next week to start planting corn and beans.