News

Eastern Corn Belt likely to regain soil moisture

An ag meteorologist says he expects soil moisture conditions to replenish over the spring in parts of the Eastern Corn Belt.

Michigan climatologist Jeff Andresen tells Brownfield, “We’re way below normal on our seasonal snowfall totals statewide, but we’ll add some to that here over the next couple of weeks.”

He says rain this winter was still prominent for some of the region.

“There was an active storm track for most of the winter through the Ohio Valley, and so southern parts of the state actually got at least normal, even a little bit wetter than normal,” he says. “A lot of a lot of it was rain.”

The latest drought monitor shows only 15 percent of Indiana and Ohio combined is abnormally dry, while nearly three-fourths of Michigan is dry.  Nearly all of Michigan’s Upper Peninsula is in moderate drought.

AUDIO: Michigan climatologist Jeff Andresen