Crop Progress and Condition for the Week Ending July 20, 2014.
Agricultural News: Kentucky experienced scattered rainfall over the past week. Precipitation for the week totaled 1.48 inches, 0.49 inches above normal. Temperatures averaged 70 degrees for the week, 7 degrees below normal. Topsoil moisture was rated 13 percent very short, 35 percent short, 47 percent adequate and 5 percent surplus. Subsoil moisture was rated 10 percent very short, 33 percent short, 52 percent adequate, and 5 percent surplus. Days suitable for fieldwork averaged 5.8 out of a possible seven.
Primary activities this week included spraying soybeans, baling hay, and general farm maintenance. Parts of the state received much needed rainfall this week, providing improvement in pasture and crop conditions. However, some areas still remain dry and pasture and crop conditions continue to deteriorate. Some cattle producers are beginning to feed hay. There were a few reports of black shank problems starting to appear in tobacco.
Climate Summary
Much Below Normal Temperatures and Above Normal Rainfall:
The Commonwealth finally saw some significant rainfall this past week, along with a glimpse of early fall. A couple frontal boundaries started the work week on a wet note. Scattered to numerous showers and storms formed along a weakening frontal boundary early Monday, before a stronger cold front moved through the area later that night. Surface high pressure of Canadian origin then pushed into the region for much of the remaining work week.
Unseasonable temperatures with low dewpoints invaded the Ohio Valley with highs temperatures only in the 70s about each day. Highs in the upper 70s are normally not seen until late-September. Record lows were broken at many locations on Thursday morning, as temperatures plummeted into the low to mid 50s. Some locations even recorded the mercury dropping into the upper 40s.
Showers then redeveloped on Friday, marking the start of an extended period of unsettled conditions heading into the weekend. Rainfall was light in nature, but was present for an extended period of time, mostly across the eastern half of the state. Overall, the state was nearly a half inch above normal for the week, which broke a streak of 5 consecutive periods of below normal rainfall.
Temperatures for the period averaged 70 degrees across the state which was 7 degrees cooler than normal and 6 degrees cooler than the previous period. High temperatures averaged from 79 in the West to 77 in the East.
Departure from normal high temperatures ranged from 11 degrees cooler than normal in the West to 10 degrees cooler than normal in the East. Low temperatures averaged from 61 degrees in the West to 62 degrees in the East.
Departure from normal low temperature ranged from 7 degrees cooler than normal in the West to 2 degrees cooler than normal in the East. The extreme high temperature for the period was 90 degrees at BOWLING GREEN 4E and the extreme low was 49 degrees at CYNTHIANA 8N.
Precipitation (liq. equ.) for the period totaled 1.48 inches statewide which was 0.49 inches above normal and 149% of normal. Precipitation totals by climate division, West 0.49 inches, Central 1.06 inches, Bluegrass 1.60 inches and East 2.76 inches, which was -0.47, 0.05, 0.64 and 1.73 inches respectively from normal. By station, precipitation totals ranged from a low of 0.06 inches at HARDINSBURG 5SW to a high of 5.59 inches at LONDON.
