ON YOUR MARK, GET SET, HARVEST....
For those of you up and at it early Friday you can expect cold temperatures and areas of frost to start your day. Since last night freeze warnings have been up for northern sections where temperatures are expected to bottom out in the range of 28-32 degrees.
Frost advisories were issued for areas further south where readings should be just a few degrees warmer. The NWS in the Quad Cities put this out regarding the situation.
A few light showers may clip my southern counties Friday, otherwise passing clouds and well below normal temperatures will rule the day. Most highs will remain in the low to mid 40s. That's 15-20 degrees under the averages.
One very good piece of news is that we are now in the early stages of a much drier pattern that should last the better part of 2 weeks (perhaps the rest of October)! This is the 8-14 day precipitation outlook from the Climate Prediction Center.
You can see why this widespread drying trend is so important for agricultural interests in a series of rain related graphics. First the rainfall totals over the past 7 days.
Another perspective with specific amounts.
The 7 day anomalies. Most of my area 400-500% above normal.
The duration of the wet weather pattern is magnified more when you go back and look at the past 30 days. The totals are significantly higher with some places in NE Iowa and SW Wisconsin approaching 20 inches!
Here's the 30 day anomalies.
The excessive rains have produced soils that are 95-99% saturated across the entire state of Iowa. Nothing is being absorbed when precipitation falls into an environment as thoroughly soaked as that.
And that's why our colder weather is welcome news to local farmers. Cold air can't support extreme moisture levels lessening the chances of heavy precipitation. Added confidence is the 16 day precip. forecast off the GFS. Little if any precipitation falls in my local area.
The scramble will be on for farmers to get into the fields as soon as the proper conditions are realized. It appears to me we are on the right track to start bringing in the harvest. Roll weather...TS
