Purdue News
Purdue News
That's the question across Indiana, where each week seems to bring more cool, wet weather. The weather pattern is not only canceling backyard barbecues, it's not doing any favors for farmers, either.
According to Ken Scheeringa, acting state climatologist for Indiana, stationed at Purdue University, since the first week of April, Indiana has experienced near record cold and progressively heavier rainfall. "Since April we've been teetering on the brink of records nearly every month," he says.
Scheeringa says April was the third coldest April in Indiana on record, and likewise, May was the third coldest May. "June to date is the coldest in 100 years," he says.
Although the rainfall hasn't been approaching any records, in the past few weeks some areas of Indiana have received more than their share. "Some areas have been getting 3 inches per week instead of the normal 3 inches per month," Scheeringa says.
The cause of the unusual weather, Scheeringa says, is an upper atmosphere jet stream that has stalled in a trough pattern, dipping down from Canada through the Great Plains, leaving that area drier than normal. It then moves north again, sometimes passing over Indiana.
As the jet stream moves north it brings a path of low pressure centers over Indiana, bringing more rain.
According to Ralph Gann, U.S. Department of Agriculture State Statistician for Indiana, this spring's weather began as good for farmers, giving them a jump-start on this season's planting. "The date when Indiana farmers had the majority of crops planted was ahead of schedule, coming in late April or early May," he says.
However, the cooler than normal temperatures have kept the plants from growing as vigorously as they should. Farmers use a weather measure called "growing degree days," which is the number of days that the average daily temperatures are between 50 degrees and 86 degrees. This temperature range allows for optimum plant growth. This spring, Indiana has fallen behind.
"As of June 9, our growing degree day accumulation ranged in the state from 23 percent to 28 percent behind normal," Gann says. "We've averaged five to 10 degrees cooler than normal throughout the state throughout the spring. We had an early successful planting period, but the cooler temperatures are affecting the growth of the crop. So we may have given back the extra growing time we gained through the early planting."
Despite the fits and spurts of this spring's crop, Gann says it is too soon to pass any sort of initial judgment on Indiana's 1997 corn and soybean crops.
"We don't really have a sense of how this year's crop is doing, and we won't know anything for sure until the pollination of the corn crop in early July," he says. "We usually have a third of Indiana's corn crop pollinated by mid-July, and we won't have a sense of a gain or loss of the state's crop until we get to that point."
David Petritz, assistant director for the Purdue Cooperative Extension Service, says it's shaping up to be another unsettling year for farmers. "In terms of growing degree days, we're four weeks behind already," he says. "The question is, can we speed up the train sometime later and still make it to the station on time?"
Sources: Ken Scheeringa, (765) 494-8105; e-mail, kenneth.l.scheeringa.1@purdue.edu
Ralph Gann, (765) 494-8371
David Petritz, (765) 494-8494; e-mail, david.c.petritz.1@purdue.edu
Writer: Steve Tally, (765) 494-9809; e-mail, tally@ecn.purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
