We have a wide open start to our 2024 harvest season underway for all of Michigan in our Seed Genetics Direct Harvest Weather Forecast. The only pause we have had to deal with so far is the remains of Francine, which largely stayed farther south and was not as impressive as it could have been. We now embark on a 7-8 day dry stretch statewide.
Sunshine dominates in most areas Saturday, with only a few lingering showers in far SW IN. From Sunday through next Saturday we see plenty of sun and very warm temps. However, we also will see higher humidity levels, leading to lower comfort. Evaporation will be at nearly maximum each day, but we don’t have any moisture to really evaporation left in the soil profile.
Late this week we see a more active pattern holding over the central and western corn belt. We will see plenty of moisture with a pair of systems out that direction. However, right now we see that moisture running into this very dry airmass we have over the eastern belt and sucking moisture potential away. At this point, we are hopeful that we see some precipitation overcome that as the frontal boundary moves east early next week, for Monday the 23rd. However, we are not confident that we see any more than 50% coverage of precipitation next Monday with rain potential up to .5”
The map below shows rainfall vs normal for the next 10 days. This points toward very little moisture through the period.
Extended Period:
The extended period is mostly dry as well. If we do NOT see any rain on the 23rd, we will not see any west to east moving frontal passage that can trigger rain until closer to the 27th. However, one thing to watch will be some moisture potential lifting into areas of OH toward the middle of next week, coming off the SE US coast. However, that same kind of storm moisture movement was projected previously for midweek this week, and it quickly dissipated. So, we will just watch that with a keen eye for now.
Weeks 3 & 4:
Very warm and staying dry through the bulk of the week 3 and week 4 period.
Week 3
Precipitation (green: above normal, brown: below)
Temperatures (blue: below normal, orange: above)
Week 4
Precipitation (green: above normal, brown: below)
Temperatures (blue: below normal, orange: above)