0:06
All right.

0:06
Thank you so much, Dan, and good afternoon, everybody.

0:09
My name is Josh Bendorf.

0:10
Like Dan said, I am the Climate Outreach Specialist with the Division of Extension as well as the Wisconsin State Climatology Office.

0:17
And today, I’ll be delivering your AG weather update that we do as part of these Badger Crop Connect webinar series.

0:23
Just as a reminder that this is a condensed version of the larger AG weather outlook for Wisconsin that we put out weekly with extension.

0:31
The most recent version of that will be coming out either later today or tomorrow.

0:35
So be sure to be on the lookout for that.

0:40
So what does precip look like since the last time we talked two weeks ago, This is August 28th through September 11th.

0:47
Highest totals of precipitation in the state of Wisconsin have been pretty much concentrated up in the north, northwest part of the state with totals anywhere from about two to four inches.

0:57
And this is at or above normal totals what we would expect for late August to early part of September.

1:05
2 week totals right now average across the state are roughly about two inches, so kind of right about average a little bit more up there.

1:11
If we look at the central and West central parts of the state, those areas shaded in green, those are anywhere from 1/2 inch to two inches over the past two weeks, so a little bit less than normal.

1:22
But if we look down at the east southeast part of the state, this has been the driest area of the state over the last two weeks with some receiving less than 1/4 inch of rainfall across the southeast and pretty much across the whole southern half of Wisconsin.

1:36
It’s been below average over the past two weeks, 50 percent, 50% or less of normal precip across southern Wisconsin since August 28th, with that southeast area in particular being 25% or less of normal precipitation.

1:51
So pretty dry.

1:53
And we’ve had Cocorahs stations in the Milwaukee area reporting 1/10 of an inch or less precip since August 28th.

2:00
So we could use a little bit of rain down there, 30 day precip totals and how that compares to averages.

2:06
Southern part of the state there is showing up as being above average.

2:09
But like I was just saying it’s been dry over the last two weeks.

2:12
So a lot of this precip you have to go back to the the middle part of August for this.

2:17
But over the past 30 days, the southern, West central and northern parts of Wisconsin have been at or above average with four inches or more precipitation.

2:27
And then northern Wisconsin before this past couple days has had below normal precipitation with totals of four inches or less.

2:35
Those areas kind of in yellow and orange and red on the on the map on your on your right and looking at 2025 precipitation so far, where do we stand year in total?

2:47
We can see across the state pretty close to average.

2:49
Those areas in yellow and green are right about average.

2:53
So we have a few areas of deficit, especially up in the northwest along Lake Superior as well as down in the far SE, but overall pretty average across the board.

3:04
And what does this mean for soil moisture?

3:06
So if we take a look at soil moisture levels in the top 4 inches of soil at some of our UW research farms and how this week’s totals compared to totals from last week and one month ago.

3:18
We see that for the most part, especially stations across the southern and central part of the state where precipitation totals were a bit lower, soil moisture levels dropped a little bit.

3:27
And then at some of the northern stations such as Rhinelander, Spooner Kemp, those areas had a little bit higher precip last week.

3:33
So we see a little bit of a bump in top soil moisture in at those stations.

3:38
But overall, 81 to 82% of agricultural soils in the state are reporting adequate topsoil and subsoil moisture as of the latest NASS report.

3:46
And 14 to 15% of fields in the state are reported as having short to very short top and subsoil moisture, which is a slight percentage point increase from last week.

3:56
Looking at soil moisture models, this is a satellite based model, the NASA Sport model, which estimates soil moisture in the top 1m of soil and how that compares to what we would expect for this time of year.

4:08
We see near normal soil moisture levels in the top 1 meter of soil across most of Wisconsin.

4:13
Those areas shaded in Gray with some above normal levels in the South and parts of the north and northwest and then decreasing dryness in the far northwest compared to what we saw last week following that rainfall that that area received with some increasing dryness in the East Central after a dry week.

4:33
But as far as the drought monitor is concerned, this was just released this morning.

4:37
We don’t see any increase in abnormal dryness.

4:41
There’s no drought in the state right now.

4:43
Despite the dryness, we still have some good soil moisture reserves from the rainfall we received earlier this summer.

4:48
So drought remains not an issue in the state right now.

4:51
Just a few areas to watch there that are abnormally dry.

4:56
Turning now to temperatures, it was pretty cool over this last week.

5:00
We had low temperatures not just in the northern part of the state, but in the central and southern part of the state, dipping down into the 30s on a couple nights over the past week.

5:10
We see the map there on the left that shows the number of nights per location that had a low temperature in the 30s.

5:18
And the table is showing by climate division or 9 climate divisions, excuse me, in Wisconsin, how the temperatures over this past week compared to our averages.

5:29
We see a lot of numbers in blue and a lot of numbers that are negative.

5:33
We had temperatures that were in some cases 10° or more below average with our coldest day over the past week being September 4th with a statewide average right at 50°.

5:44
And our coldest Wisco net reading was just above freezing in Black River Falls on September 7th, 32.2°.

5:52
And here’s a few photos that were sent to the SCO of Frost One up in Rhinelander on August 29th.

5:58
And Fort Atkinson.

5:59
Chris Vgaskey, our WISCO net manager, took some pictures there near 1 of their WISCO net stations at Fort Atkinson on September 4th.

6:07
So a few isolated instances, maybe you’ve seen some in your areas as well.

6:11
Please let us know if you have. Temperatures for the last 7 days and 30 days and how they compare to normal.

6:18
Like I was just alluding to, things have been chilly.

6:21
Average temperature last week range from the mid to upper 50s in the South and West central to upper 40s low 50s in the north.

6:29
And this was well below average for this time of year.

6:31
Anywhere 8 to 10° below average for most of Wisconsin.

6:35
And the last 30 days have been colder than average as well.

6:38
2 to 4° below normal for most of the state since August 10th.

6:43
What does this mean for crop progress?

6:45
These maps show the percent dented corn and percent setting pods for soybeans.

6:50
Things are running just a couple days behind average right now, according to this this past week’s Nass reports.

6:56
Denting is right about halfway complete.

6:58
Doughing is nearing completion, which is just slightly behind normal pace for late August, early September.

7:04
And then soybean pod setting is nearly complete, 96% complete in Wisconsin fields, again behind normal pace for late August.

7:11
We might have something to do a little bit with the coolness that we’ve been seeing, but overall conditions look really good.

7:18
81 to 82% rated good to excellent corn and soybeans across the state.

7:23
Minor changes from last week.

7:26
Looking ahead now to precip for the next 7 days.

7:29
The best chances once again are in the north anywhere right now.

7:33
Totals forecasted kind of be from 1/4 inch to 1/2 inch up in that, up in that neck of the woods.

7:38
Little bit lesser totals across the rest of the state.

7:41
Just some light rain forecasted over the next week.

7:44
Average for this week is about an inch.

7:46
So right now we’re looking to be beneath that.

7:49
But as always, make sure to check your local forecast for details on timing and totals.

7:54
And then looking out to mid to late September, the Climate Prediction Center of NOAA is indicating that there’s a strong lean towards above normal temperatures for for the whole state of Wisconsin, kind of a 50 to 60% odds right now that it’s going to be above normal.

8:12
Just a reminder, this doesn’t say how much above normal that it’s going to be.

8:14
It’s just the likelihood that we are going to have above normal temperatures and there’s a slight lean towards above normal precip in the western half of the state that light blue color on the precip map near normal elsewhere.

8:27
And for the remainder of September uncertainty right now we have equal chances for above, near or below normal temperatures and precipitation.

8:36
So really can’t say with certainty what the rest of September is going to look like.

8:42
And so with that, that is the update I have for you today.

8:45
Just a reminder, please take a look at the the AGWow when it’s released later today or tomorrow and I’ll be happy to take any questions in the chat.

8:52
Thank you.