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Farmers should expect a freeze, says Taylor

An ag weather expert says farmers need to remember that this warm weather spell doesn’t mean there won’t be a freeze. While it may be the first day of spring today – some farmers in the Corn Belt have already begun planting.

Iowa State University Extension climatologist Elwynn Taylor, “The corn planting that’s going on means that some people just can’t resist it – but I haven’t seen anyone committed to plant their whole farm – at least if they’ve got an extensive farm,” Taylor adds, “It isn’t too sure of a thing that we’re going to go from now right into summer without a damaging freeze.”

Planting this early, Taylor says, does not necessarily mean a yield advantage, “There’s always the risk of that freeze – and of course – it’s a high risk even though we don’t forecast a freeze right now.”

Taylor says these above normal highs could last well into next week from the Rocky Mountains to the East Coast, but, farmers should expect a change. Whether the soil will stay warm enough to sustain healthy crop production is also in question.

While high temperatures in Iowa are breaking 1936 Dust Bowl records lately, Taylor says it is still very likely to freeze this spring,“From this time forward there’s only been one year in over 100 years of weather records. That was 1946 that we didn’t have any freeze. You could have planted on the 15th of March and everything would have been fine but that’s one chance in a hundred.”

Taylor says it would not be unheard of, however, for Dust Bowl conditions to come back around every 80 years or so, which could be sometime this decade.  He adds that we should expect the volatility in the weather to increase over the next five to six years.

AUDIO: ElwynnTaylor (7:00 mp3)