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WWMT-DT 3.1 in Kalamazoo says that tomorrow's high will be 82°F. The last time we had 80s in West Michigan was 2 October 2013 -- 218 days ago. The heat wave is short-lived. The highs for the next week are all in the low 70s and high 60s. Pleasant. Springlike. But not excessive.
We've had a few days of heavy rain, but nothing like last year. Still, farmers are beginning to worry about planting. The ground may still be too cold for some crops. So the tilling if the soil has begun, but later than usual. I'm sure the seed salesmen are scrambling to arrange for different inventory.
My father used to plant sweet corn in North Carolina. If I remember, Silver Queen was the best, but it was a 120-day corn. Some of the field corns suitable for silage were 84, maybe even 74-day corn. You could squeeze two crops in one year in some fields in the South.
While there's heat waves elsewhere in the country -- I seem to recall people on Facebook reporting 80°F in Denver a month ago and 90-100° in Oklahoma this past week. What's different here is partly due to the Great Lakes.
Last week it was reported that the ice still covered 26% of the Great Lakes. I expect shallow Erie to be fairly clear, while Superior is still largely frozen. The Coast Guard is struggling to keep the channels open where Huron meets the St. Mary's River. It's the cold sink of the Great Lakes which is likely to depress temperatures where it can well into the summer.
Considering how baked the rest of the country was last year and the energy expenditure it takes to move me around outside, I'll take a cooler summer this year.
Whether the farmers are as happy we'll have to see.
Dr. Phil
We've had a few days of heavy rain, but nothing like last year. Still, farmers are beginning to worry about planting. The ground may still be too cold for some crops. So the tilling if the soil has begun, but later than usual. I'm sure the seed salesmen are scrambling to arrange for different inventory.
My father used to plant sweet corn in North Carolina. If I remember, Silver Queen was the best, but it was a 120-day corn. Some of the field corns suitable for silage were 84, maybe even 74-day corn. You could squeeze two crops in one year in some fields in the South.
While there's heat waves elsewhere in the country -- I seem to recall people on Facebook reporting 80°F in Denver a month ago and 90-100° in Oklahoma this past week. What's different here is partly due to the Great Lakes.
Last week it was reported that the ice still covered 26% of the Great Lakes. I expect shallow Erie to be fairly clear, while Superior is still largely frozen. The Coast Guard is struggling to keep the channels open where Huron meets the St. Mary's River. It's the cold sink of the Great Lakes which is likely to depress temperatures where it can well into the summer.
Considering how baked the rest of the country was last year and the energy expenditure it takes to move me around outside, I'll take a cooler summer this year.
Whether the farmers are as happy we'll have to see.
Dr. Phil
