Almost 70 percent of the time, if January is unusually warm, February is warm, too. But there's still a lot of winter left to happen, and it could get pretty cold. |
Conditions last year were very favorable. There was even better soil moisture. But frost came despite what had been a very mild spring to that point, so you never know how Iowa weather is going to turn out. |
Drought likes company. If somebody else is dry in another part of the country, it's always a little bit worrisome. It just can kind of feed on itself and spread. . . . It is something to keep your eye on to see if it persists into the spring. |
It looks favorable as far as planting season goes, at least the beginning of it. Soil levels are normal ... despite dry conditions in the last year. It looks to be a very mild period coming up for the next two weeks, above normal. And it's a little drier than usual, which is generally good for planting. |
It seems more cold than usual, but really it's very, very close to what's normal. |
That's the bad news. The good news is fairly normal precipitation this spring would get . . . much of the state up to normal before spring planting begins. |
The biggest thing was how dry it was. |
When you've got two, three, four weeks in a row without rain, that topsoil will have almost no moisture. It wouldn't take much to remedy the situation. A quarter-inch of rain is all it would take. |