Cooler Temperatures Slow Midwest Corn Growth
Accu Weather, June 25th, 2008
Cooler Temperatures Slow Midwest Corn Growth
Yet Another Setback After Floods Significantly Reduce Potential Yield
STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – June 25, 2008 – The AccuWeather.com Agricultural Forecast Center reports increasing concern that cooler-than-normal temperatures will slow growth of an already plagued corn crop.
Temperatures this past week have averaged two to four degrees below normal. “This is not a big departure,” states AccuWeather.com agriculture Expert Senior Meteorologist Dale Mohler, “but, if it continues, it will push back the corn’s maturation date.”
Agriculture experts use growing degree days, based upon temperature, to measure the rate of corn growth. From the period of June 17 to 23 in the heart of the Corn Belt in Indianapolis, farmers saw 14 percent less growing degree days than normal.
Mohler notes that cooler temperatures now can potentially translate into a delayed harvest. “We need to get this crop ahead of schedule,” he says. “If not, it will run into the first frost.”
While there is still time for the corn crop to recover somewhat this summer, it cannot happen next week as cooler temperatures return this weekend and into next week, resulting in another stretch of slower growth.
Overall, the cooler temperatures are a minor setback compared to damage from recent flooding, but, according Mohler, “This crop can’t take additional setbacks, but instead needs ideal weather.”
About AccuWeather, Inc. and AccuWeather.com
AccuWeather, The World's Weather Authority®, presents accurate, localized, branded forecasts and severe weather bulletins to over 110 million Americans each day via the Internet, mobile devices and IPTV, through the airwaves, in print and on digital signage. The 113 meteorologists at AccuWeather deliver a portfolio of customized products and services to media, business, government, and institutions, and inform millions of visitors worldwide through the free AccuWeather.com website. AccuWeather also provides content onto more than 20,000 third-party Internet sites, including CNN Interactive, ABC's owned and operated stations, The Washington Post and The New York Times. Visit www.accuweather.com for more information.
