We are once again providing soil temperatures in the C.O.R.N. Newsletter for spring 2019. The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) Agricultural Research Stations located throughout the state have two and four inch soil temperatures monitored on an hourly basis.
Figure 1. Average daily air temperature (average of maximum and minimum daily temperatures; red-dashed), two and four inch soil temperatures for spring 2019 (brown and blue-solid, respectively), and two and four inch five-year average soil temperatures (brown and blue-dotted, respectively) for four OARDC stations from around Ohio (Northwest, Wooster, Western, and Piketon; see map insets). Conditions for 2019 are plotted through May 5th.
Figure 1 shows a decent recovery in soil temperatures earlier in the week as warmer air temperatures moved in throughout the region. Once again, a chilly weekend led to downturn in soil temperatures by Sunday May 5th. However, all four stations are currently at or slightly warmer that than their five-year averages. Historically, soil temperatures warm fairly rapidly over the next couple of weeks. Despite some wet weather, seasonally mild temperatures this upcoming week should perpetuate warming soils.
Figure 2. Accumulated precipitation (percent of normal based on 1981-2010 climatological mean) for Ohio for the period January 1-May 5, 2019. Stars designate a selection of OARDC Agricultural Research Stations from around the state. The accumulated precipitation (in inches) is provided in the table on the right.
With wet conditions persisting throughout spring 2019, Figure 2 shows the percent of normal precipitation that has fallen since January 1. The entire state of Ohio is currently running above average, with much of the state between 125-150% above average. The dark blue shading in Auglaize County and the area in southwest Ohio indicate upwards of 200% of normal precipitation has fallen in these regions. The table to the right of the figure indicate the amounts that have fallen at the same selected OARDC sites used for soil temperatures in Figure 1. All of these sites are above average.
For more complete weather records for all of the OARDC research stations, including temperature, precipitation, growing degree days, and other useful weather observations, please visit http://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weather1/.