DES MOINES — Heavy rain drenched portions of Northern Iowa during the week ending July 12, while warmer and drier conditions across much of the state allowed farmers more time in their fields and kept Iowa’s corn and soybean crops in generally strong condition.
The latest Iowa Crop Progress and Condition Report showed farmers had 5.4 days suitable for fieldwork during the week of July 6-12. That was 1.6 days more than during the same period last year.
Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said the state moved into a warmer and drier weather pattern following what had been the wettest week of the growing season for much of Iowa.
Naig cautioned that stored soil moisture and timely rainfall will be important as corn enters the critical tasseling and pollination period.
Topsoil moisture was rated 73 percent adequate and 12 percent surplus. Fourteen percent was considered short and 1 percent very short.
Subsoil moisture was rated 69 percent adequate and 10 percent surplus, while 18 percent was short and 3 percent very short.
Corn silking reached 38 percent statewide, five percentage points ahead of last year. One percent of the corn crop had reached the dough stage, four percentage points behind last year.
Iowa’s corn crop was rated 78 percent good to excellent.
Soybeans blooming reached 56 percent, five percentage points ahead of last year. Sixteen percent of the crop was setting pods, one percentage point behind last year.
Soybeans were rated 74 percent good to excellent.
Oats headed reached 98 percent, while 8 percent had been harvested. The oat harvest was running 10 percentage points behind last year.
Oats were rated 81 percent good to excellent, while Iowa pastures were rated 73 percent good to excellent.
Northern Iowa saw some of the heaviest rainfall totals of the week.
A cluster of storms moved into north-central Iowa early Tuesday, July 7, dropping between 1.07 inches at Estherville and 1.20 inches at Swea City.
A stronger round of thunderstorms struck northeastern and north-central Iowa Wednesday evening and early Thursday. Several wind gusts reached approximately 60 mph.
Osage received between 3.32 and 4.79 inches of rain at three reporting stations. The highest weekly rainfall total in the state was 4.88 inches at Osage.
Nashua received 0.23 inch during spotty thunderstorms earlier in the week.
Atmospheric conditions also produced funnel clouds across Northern and Eastern Iowa Friday afternoon. A brief touchdown was reported near Swaledale in Cerro Gordo County.
Despite the heavy rain in a few northern locations, some Iowa weather stations reported no measurable precipitation during the week.
Statewide average precipitation was 0.66 inch, below the normal weekly amount of 0.97 inch.
Temperatures averaged 77.4 degrees statewide, which was 2.4 degrees above normal.
The week’s highest reported temperature was 93 degrees at Lamoni on July 8. The lowest was 53 degrees at Greenfield on July 11.
State agriculture officials said the warmer and drier pattern could continue for seven to 10 days, increasing the importance of available soil moisture as crops move through key stages of development.