Ag Weather Impacts

Ag Weather Impacts

We had some pretty cold air with temperatures in the upper teens and 20s across much of the Columbia Basin these last two mornings. More clouds tonight with a weak and dry cold front will insulate and keep temperatures about 5 to 10 degrees warmer in the upper 20s and lower 30s. Clearing skies for the early to middle part of next week means that most nights will again be well below freezing. This time of year, we have less than 10 hours between sunrise and sunset and the highest elevation of the sun above the horizon is under 30 degrees, so usually we get only about 15 degrees of warming from early morning to mid afternoon. Normally, we see rain or snow every 2 to 3 days during November, but this year is running behind. The drought monitor still shows abnormally dry to moderate drought across the region and little to no precipitation is expected through next week. Although this has been good for late fall field work, the mountain snowpack above 5 thousand feet is lagging at less than 50 percent of normal, but it's still early. Yesterday, NOAA's Climate prediction center released their monthly El Nino prediction. We're still under an El Nino watch, and they've increased the chance for a weak El Nino this winter to 80 percent up from 75 percent last month. In a typical El Nino winter, the storm track favors California and the southern states.
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