Weather Maps for Midwest

Too Wet to Plant in the Midwest

While the situation is not serious, frequent rainfall, chilly conditions and muddy soil over much of the Midwest this spring has put the skids on planting for the time being.

During the last several years, it has been one extreme or the other for agriculture in portions of the Central states.

Wet weather and flooding was the theme in many areas during 2011. Last year, spring warmth turned to blistering heat and drought during the summer. This season so far from the Mississippi Valley into the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley region, it is flooding as well as a lingering chill.

The good news is that the weather pattern that brought frequent waves of cold throughout the region and ongoing snowstorms to the Plains and Great Lakes is easing. Most farmers are willing to deal with wet conditions and planting delays, rather than drought.

A spell of warmth with only spotty rainfall may present a window of opportunity for planting in part of the Midwest later this weekend into early next week.

However, later next week, additional rounds of rain will occur, and there can be one more invasion of cold air that can add to planting delays.

One particular system AccuWeather.com meteorologists are watching is what could be a large and slow-moving storm set to develop during the middle of next week.

The worst case scenario would be for several days of rainy and cool conditions that leads to new flooding problems in some areas and ongoing soggy ground for agricultural interests. A freeze could again drive southward over wheat areas of the Plains with a narrow zone of snow for the Upper Midwest.

According to Expert Senior Meteorologist Henry Margusity, "The storm next week appears as though it will tap a significant amount of Gulf of Moisture, while a puddle of cool air settles over the Midwest."

Setups like this have the potential to unleash rounds of heavy rainfall: some of it from thunderstorms, some by other means.

The area at greatest risk for additional flooding or continuing soggy conditions would be from Iowa and Missouri to Illinois, Michigan and Indiana. Much of this area has already received from 150 to 200 percent of their normal precipitation since Jan. 1, 2013. Note the extremes below for April.

One way the storm next week could bring less rainfall is if a second storm forms in the Deep South. Such a storm would prevent Gulf of Mexico moisture from flowing northward over the Midwest. However, such a storm could lead to flooding problems in parts of the South.