CFAES Give Today
Agronomic Crops Network

Ohio State University Extension

CFAES

CFAES Ag Weather System 2022 Near-Surface Air and Soil Temperatures/Moisture (Update 4)

 

Graphical user interface

Description automatically generated with low confidence

Figure 1: Daily average air temperature (dashed red), two-inch (green) and four-inch (blue) soil temperatures for spring 2022. Current daily average soil temperatures are noted for each location. Soil type and location of measurements (under sod or bare soil) are provided in the lower right corner of each panel. A map of all locations is in the bottom right.  Data provided by the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences (CFAES) Agricultural Research Stations located throughout the state.

After starting out last week with cold temperatures and accumulating snowfall across some parts of the state, air temperatures soared into the 80s for much of Ohio over the weekend. In fact, Toledo hit a record high on 88°F on Saturday, topping its previous record for the date of 86°F. Soil temperatures responded well, with daily average two- and four-inch soil temperatures starting this week out in the mid-50s to low-60s (Fig. 1). A strong cold front moving through on Monday ushered in a cooler week ahead, and soil temperatures will likely cool off a few degrees.     

 Figure 2: (Left) Percent of normal precipitation for April 1-24, 2022. Figure provided by the Midwestern Regional Climate Center. (Right) Calculated soil moisture percentiles as of 4/24/2022 according to the Climate Prediction Center.

Figure 2 shows that precipitation through April 24th ran below average for much of the state, with pockets of above average precipitation for north central, northeastern, and eastern counties. The driest areas have been across west central and northwest Ohio. Overall, this has allowed soils to dry out some from early-season surplus conditions (Fig. 2- right). At the time of writing this article however, heavier showers are moving through the state with isolated amounts of 0.5-1.0”. The Weather Prediction Center is calling for an additional 0.10-0.50” for the week beginning April 26, 2022.   

For more complete weather records for CFAES research stations, including temperature, precipitation, growing degree days, and other useful weather observations, please visit https://www.oardc.ohio-state.edu/weather1/.

Crop Observation and Recommendation Network

C.O.R.N. Newsletter is a summary of crop observations, related information, and appropriate recommendations for Ohio crop producers and industry. C.O.R.N. Newsletter is produced by the Ohio State University Extension Agronomy Team, state specialists at The Ohio State University and the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC). C.O.R.N. Newsletter questions are directed to Extension and OARDC state specialists and associates at Ohio State.