Special Report

2013 looking like 1947

It’s been a wet, cold spring in many areas of the Cornbelt and as one climatologist tells Brownfield, there are some similarities to an historic spring from more than 60 year ago.

According to Iowa State University Climatologist Elwynn Taylor, at least in a few ways, 2013 resembles 1947, “It was the first really bad year after the end of the Dust Bowl…It stayed wet and it stayed cool right up into June and end of July. By the end of July and August, the growing degree days it had gotten behind with the cool weather suddenly more than caught up and the crop hasten to maturity and, as well, it began to have a great deal of heat stress. That was 1947. A year that to date, has almost been paralleled by what’s going on in 2013.”

USDA’s next national crop progress report is out Monday, May 6 at 4 PM Eastern/3 PM Central.

Elwynn Taylor discusses the weather (4 Minutes, 30 Seconds, MP3)

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