April 23, 2009

Spring weather forecasts for US crop planting and development show soggy delays in the Great Plains and Midwest, though dry conditions in the Southwest are likely to improve, a private forecaster said Wednesday (Apr 22).

 

Melting winter snow and spring rains will likely delay spring wheat plantings in the Northern Plains, though there's still the potential for snow in North Dakota before wintry weather runs its course, said Joseph D'Aleo, agricultural consultant at private forecaster WSI Corp.

 

North Dakota has yet to plant any wheat, according to the USDA. The average for this time of year is 12 percent planted, and the state had planted 14 percent last year. The USDA said six percent of the total US spring wheat crop was planted as of April 20, up from two percent last week, but well behind the 21 percent average.

 

Wet conditions in the corn belt will continue to delay planting, though producers should manage to find a window to get in the fields before it's too late, D'Aleo said.

 

The USDA estimated that five percent of the 2009 US corn crop has been planted as of Sunday, up from two percent last week, but below the average of 14 percent.

 

Concerns about delayed development of the hard red winter wheat crop in Texas and Oklahoma are likely to see some relief from rain in the coming weeks, D'Aleo said.

 

As of Sunday, 60 percent of Oklahoma's winter wheat crop was in very poor-to-poor condition with 97 percent of the crop planted, the USDA said. In the same time frame, 74 percent of Texas wheat was very poor-to-poor condition. Forty-four percent of the HRW wheat crop was headed, up from 22 percent last week and higher than the 28 percent average.

 

Easing of the dry conditions in Texas will aid cotton planting, which is lagging in southern areas due to drought conditions, but seasonal weather transitions will bring precipitation to the state's most densely planted West Texas region into the mid-May planting period, D'Aleo said.

 

Seventeen percent of Texas' cotton crop was planted as of Sunday (Apr 19), slightly lower than 19 percent at the same time last year and one percent down from the five-year average.

 

Though the Southeastern US has been in serious drought conditions for years, ample winter precipitation eased those conditions and will make planting more favourable there, D'Aleo said.

 

Weather patterns are shifting from the La Nina meteorological phenomenon to the El Nino pattern, D'Aleo said. This transition in weather conditions, which originates with water temperatures in the tropical South Pacific Ocean, tends to bring more precipitation to the Southwest and dryer conditions in the Southeast and Delta regions, he said.