Planters are starting to move across Michigan, but Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin says the continued prospects for planting aren’t the best for the next 10 days in his Seed Genetics Direct Planting Weather Forecast.
Martin says there is good news in that we have a dry stretch here to finally talk about.
“We’re seeing a dry weekend. Most of Friday is going to be putting together a dry window, at least over southern parts of Lower Michigan. We are going to be dry through the weekend in all areas. Now, Monday of next week, we do see clouds increasing. We may hold off on moisture until late afternoon, but overnight Monday night through Tuesday, rain and thunderstorm activity brings anywhere from a quarter to one inch.”
Martin’s forecast calls for a break from the rain mid-week, Wednesday and Thursday, except for in the UP.
“But late in the week, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, scattered moisture is back, particularly Friday/Saturday where we can see anywhere from a quarter to three quarters of an inch. And we see a monster storm complex trying to come up from the southwest late in the Mother’s Day weekend. And I think that sets the stage for some significant moisture as we move into the following week.”
So, for Martin, we don’t have an exceptionally wide-open window for planting progress at this point.
“We have a couple of days here and there, but whether you can take advantage of it comes down to just how much moisture you see out of these other precipitation events. And right now, drying: we probably only pull out a tenth to two tenths of an inch of moisture per day on the days with no rain. If we get anything more than that we’re going to be adding to our moisture profile rather than pulling it down.”
See Martin’s full Seed Genetics Direct Planting Weather Forecast later Friday at MichiganAgToday.com, also brought to you by Greenstone Farm Credit Services.