Ag Weather Impacts

. It's the first day of Spring and it's also National Ag Day. We salute and thank the farmers who supply our food, fiber, fuel and feed. Rainfall this past week was mainly a third of an inch or less, but much heavier amounts of ¾ to 1 inch fell in Columbia county and eastern Walla Walla County near the Blue Mountains. Plan on dry weather to continue today and early Wednesday, but a slow moving low pressure area is digging south from the Gulf of Alaska and will likely bring periods of showers late Wednesday into Saturday. Rainfall amounts up to a third of an inch are likely in most areas, but ½ to ¾ inch are possible in closer to the Cascades, Blue Mountains, and Palouse regions. The rain will help dissolve and move fertilizer into the root zone for wheat, pastures, and lawns. High pressure and a drier period is expected for early next week. Look for daytime temperatures to drop below normal with the clouds, and once the clouds break this weekend, overnight temperatures may dip to critical levels for budding and blooming fruit trees. Mild temperatures are expected to return for the middle part of next week. Two inch soil temperatures fell into the low 40s where the rain was heavier this past week and remain in the mid to upper 40s across much rest of the Columbia Basin. Little change in average soil temperatures is likely this week.