CFAES Ag Weather System 2022 Near-Surface Air and Soil Temperatures/Moisture (Update 7 - Final)

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.

The weather finally took a big turn toward warmer and drier conditions across the Buckeye State last week. Most locations throughout Ohio had daytime highs in the low to mid 80s on 5 or 6 days. This allowed soil temperatures rise about 15°F, ending the week in the mid to upper 60s. Though a cool down is underway early this week, air temperatures are expected to remain mild enough to keep soil temperatures averages in the 60s this week. This is the final soil temperature update for the season.

Figure 2: (Left) Total precipitation for the week ending May 16, 2022, according to the CoCoRaHS observing network. (Right) Soil moisture percentiles as of 05/15/2022 according to the Climate Prediction Center.

Along with the warm temperatures, dry conditions prevailed most of the week. Scattered, slow moving thunderstorms brought locally heavy rain to the region on Saturday. Fayette, Putnam, and Fulton County sites reported more than two inches. Another line of showers and storms moved across the state Sunday night into Monday morning, with most locations across Ohio picking up between 0.5-2” over the last 7 days (Fig. 2 -left).

Ohio Crop Progress Report (https://go.osu.edu/cropprogress) is the place for current updates on planting progress. Our earliest planting date corn was around 4/23/2022. These fields should be emerged regardless of you location in the state. Germination progress is soil temperature and moisture-related. The temperature relationship is reasonably predictable for corn, requiring 100 to 120 growing degree days (GDDs) to emerge. We refer you to a 2021 CORN for more on calendar vs. GDD for corn emergence at https://go.osu.edu/cornemergence. Table 1 below shows accumulated GDD at CFAES weather stations since April 23rd, when fieldwork broadly began across the state. 2-inch soil temperatures from the CFAES network are used to generate GDD. Based on the earliest planting dates we should be seeing corn emergence in the southern part of the state.

Table 1. GDD Accumulation at CFAES weather Stations based on 2-inch soil temperatures since April 23rd

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/.