Despite some isolated rain showers, warm temperatures and mostly dry weather resulted in 5.6 days suitable for fieldwork during the week ending June 16, 2024, according to the USDA, National Agricultural Statistics Service. Primary field activities were finishing up corn and soybean planting and re-planting. Other field activities included cutting hay and spraying crops.
Topsoil moisture condition across Iowa rated 1 percent very short, 12 percent short, 77 percent adequate and 10 percent surplus. Ratings in west central Iowa were 14 percent short, 84 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus.
Subsoil moisture condition statewide rated 2 percent very short, 14 percent short, 75 percent adequate and 9 percent surplus. In west central Iowa subsoil moisture condition rated 2 percent very short, 18 percent short, 78 percent adequate and 2 percent surplus.
Corn emergence is nearing completion at 95 percent. Corn condition rated 74 percent good to excellent. Eighty-six percent of the soybean crop has emerged, almost 2 weeks behind last year and one day behind the 5-year average. Soybean condition rated 74 percent good to excellent.
The state’s first cutting of alfalfa hay reached 89 percent complete, six days behind last year. Hay condition rated 80 percent good to excellent. Pasture condition rated 75 percent good to excellent. Some cattle feedlots remain muddy.
Weather summary
provided by Justin Glisan, Ph.D., state climatologist, Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship – The last full week of astronomical spring brought warmth and unseasonable dryness to most of Iowa. Stations in eastern Iowa did not report any measurable rainfall with widespread departures between 0.50 to 1.00 inch elsewhere. Temperatures were three degrees warmer than normal south central and northwest; the statewide average temperature was 71.9 degrees, 1.8 degrees warmer than normal.
Gusty northwesterly winds developed into Sunday afternoon, June 9, under sunny skies and daytime temperatures in the upper 70s and low 80s. Spotty clouds passed through eastern Iowa into Monday with morning lows in the 50s statewide. Afternoon conditions were pleasant with variable winds and temperatures in the low to mid 70s at most Iowa stations.
Winds shifted southerly overnight with morning lows Tuesday, June 11, ranging from the low 50s southeast to mid 60s northwest as a low pressure center skirted the Iowa-Minnesota border. Light showers formed along the low’s attendant cold front, though totals were less than 0.10 inch across northern and central Iowa as rain dissipated farther east. Afternoon temperatures rose into the upper 80s in northwest Iowa even as winds shifted northwest behind the front. Stations in eastern Iowa remained in the upper 70s and low 80s.
Morning lows on Wednesday held in the 60s across the state as southerly winds brought in warmer temperatures and higher dewpoints. An outflow boundary from convection in Minnesota fired stronger storms in northeastern Iowa just after noon. These storms continued east with several high wind reports as isolated, severe warned supercells formed in western Iowa and slowly moved south. Hail in the 1.50-2.50-inch diameter range was observed from Sioux City (Woodbury County) to Council Bluffs (Pottawattamie County) with a 3.50-inch hailstone in Onawa (Monona County). Heavier rainfall was also observed along this southward track with 0.63 inch in Blencoe (Monona County) to 1.03 inches in Pacific Junction (Mills County). Stations in the northeast corner also accumulated higher totals with 0.44 inch at Decorah Municipal Airport (Winneshiek County) and 0.65 inch at Lansing (Allamakee County); amounts in between these two regions were in the 0.10-0.25-inch range where rain fell.
Thursday, June 13, started unseasonably warm and humid with morning temperatures in the upper 60s to low 70s. A cold front dropped through the state over the next several hours, encountering a warm and unstable airmass over southern Iowa. Supercells quickly developed along with large hail and localized heavy rain. Observers in Keosauqua (Van Buren County) reported 3.00-inch diameter hail while an 80-mph wind gust was observed farther northeast in Oakville (Louisa County). Six stations across Des Moines, Lee and Van Buren counties reported totals ranging from 1.09 inches to 1.73 inches with amounts in the 0.40-0.80-inch range in adjacent locations. Nighttime conditions cooled behind the front with morning lows in the mid to upper 50s over northern Iowa.
Friday was unseasonably warm with low relative humidity and air temperatures in the upper 80s across southern Iowa under sunny skies; temperatures to the north were five to 10 degrees cooler. Winds shifted easterly overnight as an organized complex of thunderstorms, known as a Mesoscale Convective System (MCS) approached Iowa from Nebraska. The MCS brought measurable rain to western Iowa through Saturday morning and then into the afternoon hours in eastern Iowa. A secondary disturbance with strong to severe thunderstorms moved into Iowa during the evening hours and sped through central to northeast Iowa overnight. Except for Iowa’s southeast corner, totals for the two systems reported at 7 am on Sunday, June 16, were in the 0.30-to-0.75-inch range with the highest totals north and in the southwest quadrant; Clarinda (Page County) hit an inch with 1.52 inches reported in Kesley (Butler County) and Shenandoah (Page County).
Weekly precipitation totals ranged from no accumulation at multiple stations to 2.59 inches in Spirit Lake (Dickinson County). The statewide weekly average precipitation was 0.62 inch while the normal is 1.19 inches. Little Sioux (Harrison County) reported the week’s high temperature of 95 degrees on June 12, 13 degrees warmer than normal. Iowa City (Johnson County) reported the week’s low temperature of 43 degrees on June 11, 15 degrees cooler than normal.
