Ag Weather Impacts

Ag Weather Impacts

We're looking at three weather systems to impact the Columbia Basin today, Friday and Sunday. Today's storm system will bring a mix of rain and snow to the northern Columbia basin and rain south of Yakima to Connell. More rain and snow is likely Friday and again Sunday. You can expect precipitation amounts of ¼ to ½ inch on most farms over these next seven days. Since the temperatures in the basin are likely to rise well above freezing, any snow should melt fairly quickly and not cause significant delays for farm to market transport. Plan for moderate to locally severe cold stress on livestock, especially young or weak animals. Snowfall in the mountains will likely accumulate at least a foot. This should greatly improve the snowpack which is currently 20 to 30 percent below normal. Soil temperatures have fallen into the lower and mid 30s and should warm into the upper 30s by this weekend. So, Expect slow growth of pastures and winter wheat. Mild and wetter than normal conditions will likely extend into next week. Even though we're still about 10 days away from the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year, we are beginning to see later sunsets this week. You probably won't notice the later sunset though since it less than a minute difference, but it does signal that longer days are not too far away.
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