2020 Spring Farm Outlook

2020 Logan County Farm Outlook LINCOLN DAILY NEWS March 19, 2020 Page 43 N ational Weather Service Meteorologist and hydrologist Chris Miller said that in December 2018 they saw all the signs and meteorologists knew that we were in trouble! Mother nature was cooking up all the right conditions to give the entire Midwest wet conditions that only happen once every 500 years! Coupling wet with cold, it was the “perfect storm.” The weather pattern that prevented planting entirely in many places, especially to the east of Central Illinois, and delayed it significantly in other areas in 2019 began with significant frost in the ground until late spring. Although soil moisture was appropriate in areas, temperatures were too cool to allow for early planting. Meteorological winter, which ends at midnight on February 28th, brought cold and wet to Logan County. There was little wind and little warmth, and conditions didn’t allow for any field drying. The ground moisture stayed above the 90th percentile for the entire spring season going into summer. Rainfall started out average in March, and then the faucets turned on in April, May and June and didn’t turn off until July the Fourth weekend. And when the rain stopped, it was a dead stop, resulting in drought conditions that continued well into October. The result of those heavy rains was almost disastrous, but most fields got planted late and most yields were surprisingly good. Former Illinois State Climatologist Jim Angel said that weather conditions here in Central Illinois have changed. We have more 100 year rains than ever before, and this is updating the 500 year rainfall tables. The 30 year climate study will be finished in 2021 and will tell the story of whether rainfall statistics have changed significantly. Miller said that we are now in a new pattern, and there has been a climate shift here in the Midwest. The jet stream has moved, and we are now getting more moist air out of the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in heavier, more frequent rainfall amounts. This has created a “feeder system” in which wet conditions continuously feed already moisture-heavy clouds and this results in serial thunderstorms. Climactically, temperatures have remained consistent over the last 120 years but rainfall has greatly increased in frequency and amounts. NWS: No repeat of last year’s disastrous weather in the 2020 long-range forecast! North of Lincoln looking southwest. Photo by Jan Youngquist Continue 4 By Jim Youngquist