View weather and climate conditions this week in Wisconsin
Here are this week’s take home points about the weather, scroll down for the full report:
Current Conditions
- Temperatures cooled off last week after a late August heat wave, with overnight lows this past weekend getting into the 30s for some (new records set).
- Weekly precip totals of a half inch or less were very common, with many southern WI stations now at <50% of climatological average over the past 30 days.
Impact
•Soil moisture percentiles are in the middle range for most, with pockets of dry percentiles; abnormal dryness was removed for large portions of the NW that received more rainfall last week.
- Corn denting is running 1% ahead of normal pace, with 64% of the crop reported in good to excellent condition.
- Soybean pod setting is 95% complete, with leaf drop underway. 62% of the crop reported in good to excellent condition.
•GDDs are approaching 2700 (2100) unitsin the southern (northern) counties.
Outlook
•Relatively low precip chances forecasted this next week, with a higher likelihood in the C. Sands & points S.
•Mid-September has a higher probability to be warmer than normal month, according to CPC outlooks. Precip chances are mixed.
•The warmer-than-normal conditions have a higher probability to continue into the fall with a La Niña pattern taking shape. Currently, we are in a neutral phase.
What does this mean for you? Here are some things to consider for your farm this week:
Crop Development
•Scouting for crop stage and development of issues is very important this year as the wet spring means that there is a lot of variability in fields and across farms.
•As silage and other early crops come off, consider diverse cover crop mixes to help mitigate any compaction that may have occurred this spring and protect soil heading into fall.
Manure Applications
•Low runoff risk in the next week. Check the DATCP runoff risk advisory forecast here.
•As silage comes off, consider the relationship between manure and cover crops, learn more here.
Pest Management
•Fall armyworm flights are underway. Sign up to receive text alerts when pests are in your region here.
•Time to scout for soybean aphid, see more info here.
•Conditions have been right in many places for tar spot and white mold, information available here.
•Scout for corn rootworm beetle to determine pressure on next year’s continuous corn.
•Southern rust of corn was found in Wisconsin in August, see more info here.
•Late blight was found on tomato in Wisconsin in August, see more info here.
Forage Management
•Look out for herbicide carryover, volunteers in late summer seeding of alfalfa after wheat. Read more.
•Corn Silage Harvest – look for local opportunities for stalk chopping to gauge moisture content, scout fields to understand which may be ready first. For varying planting dates, plan for a segregated, longer season harvest to optimize forage quality. More info here.
•Fall alfalfa cutting can affect persistence, read more and use our new tool to make informed decisions.
