Warm, dry weather gave Iowa farmers 6.5 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending September 14, according to the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service. Producers focused on finishing the third cutting of hay, harvesting corn silage, and preparing for row crop harvest.
Topsoil moisture was rated 4% very short, 22% short, 65% adequate, and 9% surplus, while subsoil moisture stood at 2% very short, 18% short, 71% adequate, and 9% surplus.
Corn progress remains ahead of average, with 90% dented and 48% matured. The crop was rated 59% good and 20% excellent. Soybeans advanced as well, with 73% coloring and 35% dropping leaves, and were rated 57% good and 18% excellent.
Alfalfa’s third cutting reached 96% complete, and pastures were reported 63% good to excellent.
Weather Summary
Provided by Justin Glisan, Ph.D., State Climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship
Temperatures were well above average throughout the reporting period, running three to six degrees above normal. The statewide average temperature was 69.1 degrees, 4.0 degrees above normal. Unseasonable dryness persisted into mid-September, with many central to southeastern Iowa stations reporting no rainfall.
Weekly precipitation totals ranged from no accumulation at numerous stations to a high of 1.22 inches in Elma (Howard County). The statewide weekly average precipitation measured just 0.10 inch, far below the climatological normal of 0.85 inch. Davenport (Scott County) recorded the week’s highest temperature of 99 degrees on September 13—22 degrees above normal—while several locations dropped to 35 degrees on September 8, about 16 degrees below normal.