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Have recent rains busted drought concerns?

An ag meteorologist says recent storms have finally brought widespread rain to the Great Lakes where it was desperately needed.

“We’re several weeks, maybe a couple of months of normal rainfall behind and that’s a lot to make up.”

State climatologist for Michigan Jeff Andresen tells Brownfield his state has been stuck between jet streams for much of the growing season, and the last two weeks provided more precipitation than any other time yet this year.

“It sure helps a lot and it really eases the problems and moisture stress, and some of the other issues that have developed here over the past several weeks,” he says.

Andresen says while drought in the Northern Great Plains is greater than the Great Lakes, wet conditions persist in parts of the southern Corn Belt.

“If you wonder where all the water and precipitation went, well, a lot of it went across the south and the Ohio Valley,” he explains.

In comparing 10 years with the driest starts of the season, Andresen found there’s about a 50 percent chance corn and soybean crops will perform well. But, he says timely rains will be needed the rest of this summer to stabilize crop health.

Some areas of Southern Michigan were short six to eight inches since the fall which compares to the early season drought in 1988.

In the medium term, Andresen says cooler and wetter conditions are likely with a warmup expected later in July.