Ag Weather Impacts-End of Meteorological Summer

Ag Weather Impacts-End of Meteorological Summer

Here we are at the end of August and the end of what we weather folks call meteorological summer. And what a challenging summer it has been. After a June which saw temperatures average close to normal, July and August had temperatures that soared above the century mark on 8 to 15 days. Hermiston recorded 19 days of triple digits. Now, Lack of clouds at night did allow overnight cooling until the blanket of wildfire smoke became a problem. The lack of clouds meant that precipitation was severely lacking. Most farms did not even get a quarter inch total rainfall which was less than 25 percent of normal. And if it wasn't for the showers the first half of June, many farms would ended up with no rain for the summer. The high evaporation rates did put considerable stress on some irrigation systems. The current drought monitor map has the Columbia Basin painted abnormally dry to moderate drought. The only positive aspects about the dry summer were no bad thunderstorms with hail or wind, hay curing and summer harvest operations were allowed to proceed without rain delay, and optimum sunshine provided good growing conditions for many crops. So what will September bring as preparations are being made for fall seeding? NOAA's climate prediction center will be issuing it's update for September later today, but it does appear at least the first half of September will continue to be dry.
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