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Midwest to divide wet conditions through summer

The National Weather Service says it appears La Nina weather conditions have ended and is calling for a warmer-than-normal summer with wet conditions spreading over the East and Gulf Coasts while the drought is expected to expand in the West.

Ag meteorologist Jeff Andresen at Michigan State University says enhanced probability forecasts have a history of not panning out for some regions.

“Let’s see it first to believe it,” he says.

The weather service is calling for just about the entire West and Northern Plains to still be in drought or have new drought added by the end of August including in parts of Nebraska, South Dakota, Iowa, Minnesota, Illinois, Wisconsin, and most of Michigan.

“The ‘80s are a decade to look at—1984, ’87, ’87, ’88, and ’89—those were all years that had fairly dry, late winters and early springs,” he says.

Many parts of Michigan’s lower Peninsula are the driest in at least 20 years with less than 20 percent of plant available water which Andresen says is very, very unusual.  Nearly 80 percent of Michigan ranges from abnormally dry to in severe drought.

Andresen made his comments during the recent MSU Extension Field Crops Virtual Breakfast.

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