38 March 27, 2014 2014 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com
Here’s your peek at the weather, and a little ‘dirt’ talk
D
oesn’t this past winter beat all? More snow over
the entire season than anyone can remember, and
yet, drought persists!
Yes, drought is still dogging us after all that snow and
other wintry precipitation we
put up with all this winter.
According to the National
Weather Service, drought
conditions improved slowly
over the winter season.
However, moderate drought
(D1) conditions extend from
southern Scott and Morgan
counties northeastward
into southern McLean and
western Champaign counties.
If you remember, we had those warmer days in
late February (just above freezing) and a storm that
brought a significant amount of precipitation. In only
a couple of days, the accumulated snow melted off.
A deeper-than-normal frost barrier prevented ground
penetration. Widespread field flooding was the result,
which ran off into streams and rivers. Bye-bye to some
more valuable soil.
Cold this year? Yes. It wasn’t just the winter whiners
complaining this year; everyone was talking about it
long before winter’s end.
And, right they were. The NWS confirmed Lincoln
had its coldest winter since record keeping began in
1905. The mean daily temperature of 20.6 degrees F
beat the former record of 20.9 set in 1977-78.
Snowfall amounts were also record-setting. As of
March 5, with a measurable snow in the forecast,
Lincoln was looking at likely
breaking its record amount of 45
inches set in 1981-82. Already
44.0 inches had been recorded
against the normal average of
18.9 inches.
Well, with early March offering
a few daytime temps well
above freezing, we might hope
for more ground thaw and
gentler precipitation for more
penetration to raise the still
slightly low soil moisture and groundwater reserves.
This spring, when addressing the agriculture
community on the impacts of weather on soil, expert
Dr. Jerry Hatfield of the Agricultural Research Service
emphasized the importance of soil management.
Looking at trends, Hatfield said the expectation is
that extreme weather variations will continue. In the
last few growing seasons, we’ve seen some extreme
weather events: no rain for a long period of time;
extremely high temperatures; long periods of high
temperatures, with night temperatures staying above
the crop needs for a daily cool time; heavy rains
over exposed surfaces, washing away valuable soils;
insufficient to no rain during critical pollination
periods; too wet to get into fields; and more.
Hatfield said that our climates are changing, and
farming practices need to change in response.
The long-range outlook is much the same as the trend
we’ve been seeing for the past few years. Springs are
expected to be wetter and summers hot and dry. There
is also the expectation that the extremes of big storms
that dump a lot of water at once would continue.
Continued to page 39
