Michigan Ag Today Chief Meteorologist Ryan Martin has a very promising forecast outlook for harvest progress.
Martin says high pressure dominates the Michigan landscape over the next few days, from this weekend through Tuesday evening.
“This high-pressure dome at first is going to mean a continuation of cold air that came in behind our past frontal boundary this past Thursday, but temperatures are going to moderate as we move from Sunday afternoon into Monday. We should be well above normal the first half of this upcoming week. Sunshine and blue skies, great evaporation rates, it looks like harvest is going to be able to get right back at it pretty quickly here over the course of the next few days, even after some very frosty starts.”
Martin’s forecast calls for a frontal boundary working through Michigan Wednesday afternoon through Thursday midday.
“Moisture right now does look to be on the order of a tenth on the low end to maybe half an inch on the high end; 6 tenths depending on whether you’re close to a Lake Michigan or not, but the front comes through and probably ends up hitting 75-80 percent of Michigan. Good moisture potential here. It’s probably enough to knock us out of the fields for maybe a day because we look to dry down right away Thursday afternoon as clouds give way to sunshine. I think the colder air that’s coming in behind this front is going to limit how much drying we do initially Thursday afternoon and maybe even into early Friday, but by Friday afternoon we should have evaporation at nearly a maximum.”
The cold air settles in behind that front for the start of the following weekend.
“So, that’s Friday the 14th through Saturday the 15th, but Saturday afternoon temperatures are moderating. We are sunny, warm, and dry Sunday the 15th and it looks like through the first half, at least, of the week of the 17th. So, once again, harvest does not have that many hiccups here. I think we have good progress coming over the next two weeks.”
See Martin’s full Harvest Weather Forecast later Friday at michiganagtoday.com brought to you by Greenstone Farm Credit Services, supporting rural communities and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services for over 100 years, and by Seed Genetics Direct. Order from Seed Genetics Direct and save $4 per unit of soybeans, $10 per unit of corn, and 11% more when you pay by Nov. 10!
