Ag Weather Impacts

Ag Weather Impacts

Mostly dry weather is expected to continue into Thursday. Scattered light showers are possible mainly south of the Horseheaven Hills to Walla Walla with rainfall amounts a tenth of an inch or less. So additional field work delays will be minimal and spotty. By Friday, high pressure will weaken and allow a rather vigorous trof of low pressure to set up shop near the west coast. You can plan on a series of disturbances to move through the region this weekend and early next week with periods of rain accompanying each wave. This will likely cause delays for field preparation and planting. Also, the frequent moist, mild, cloudy periods may start foliar diseases on some winter wheat varieties. Soil temperatures are currently in the 45 to 50 degree range where soils are still a little damp to the low and mid 50s where soils are workable. Little change in soil temperature is expected the rest of the week, so recently planting spring wheat, peas, and potatoes should have good conditions for germination and early development. There is a chance for colder temperatures to return late next week, so fruit growers will need to check for later updates. Looking back at March, it was no surprise nearly all of the Columbia Basin experienced a record cold month at 7 to 12 degrees below norml, but precipitation actually ended up being only 50 to 75 percent of normal in most areas. Pendleton and Yakima got to within 10 percent of normal for the wettest.
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