Ohio farmers roll dice on unusually dry spring
Bruce Tate bounces in his 16-row corn planter while the GPS guides him through the field.
It’s not often he’s out this early in the season planting corn and soybeans, but the beating 80-degree sun and this year’s drier weather allow farmers like him to plant earlier than normal.
This time one year ago, Tate Farms was deluged with precipitation and colder temperatures.
“Last year, we had cold rolling everything back until the first part of May,” said Tate, owner of Tate Farms in Holmes County. “In the last few years, it seems like we’ve kind of had colder and wetter Aprils.”
This spring is the opposite. Less rainfall and higher temperatures mean drier soil, so Tate has nearly an extra month to work the fields.
With soil conditions good enough to plant, Tate wanted to take advantage of it and get a head start on the year’s work.
“The nice thing is that it kind of spreads out our workload so we don’t have to go 100 miles an hour each day,” he said. “We can ease into it a little bit and take your time and enjoy it.”
Usually, earlier planting equals better yields, Tate said. That is if Mother Nature bestows good weather.
“You can’t control the weather,” he said. “Being a farmer, you have to have faith and you have got to be an optimist.”
Conditions abnormally dry in Wayne, Holmes, Ashland counties
Much of northern Ohio - Wayne, Holmes and Ashland counties included - is experiencing either abnormally dry conditions or moderate drought, according to the U.S. Drought Monitor - a weekly report of drought classifications compiled by several agencies, including the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the National Drought Mitigation Center.
Unless wetter weather comes in the next few weeks, Ohio could have a hotter and harsher summer.
Over the last 60 days Wayne County has averaged 40% to 60% of its usual rainfall, said Aaron Wilson, a research scientist at the State Climate Office of Ohio and The Ohio State University.
“I would say a dry spring usually means a pretty hot and dry summer, especially if there is no major shift in the weather pattern over the next four to six weeks,” Wilson said.
Soil conditions are about 16% to 20% drier than a year ago.
“Droughts beget droughts,” Wilson said.
Once the soil dries out, there is less water to evaporate. This translates into less water vapor in the atmosphere to produce showers and thunderstorms, he said.
Dry weather also feeds into a heat dome.
“When you have a very dry, warm surface, it warms the air above, and that really limits the ability for showers and thunderstorms to develop,” Wilson said.
Driest spring since 2016
Ohio’s dry weather can be traced through the winter months and into the summer of 2020, which became extremely dry, Wilson said.
While that trend slightly tapered in the fall, it picked back up in the winter.
“We haven’t seen a spring this dry since 2016,” Wilson said.
The mild drought comes on the heels of one of Ohio’s top 10 wettest springs and its 29th driest year.
This weather is a combination of climate change and nature being its chaotic self, he said. The trend in recent years includes higher annual rainfall in the spring, fall and winter and dry summers.
“We have variability within our weather, even within these long-term trend changes,” he said.
It’s hard to predict spring forecasts because of how chaotic weather can be, Wilson said, so he looks at climate signals and the type of scenarios that could occur.
Based on his data, a wet spring could change this dry trend.
Potential late spring freeze
Wilson admits that this is prime planting weather, especially for farmers, but he cautions that there is still time for spring killer frosts.
“The fact that March has been warm and things are off to a fast start, we do have this cooler period that we’re expecting to settle in here over the next week or two,” Wilson said. “This brings up the idea of these late-season freezes, and last year your region had one as late as the 13th of May.”
While he knows people are ready to plant, he cautions professional and hobby gardeners to keep this in mind going forward.
For Tom Moherman, owner of Ashland’s Green Valley Growers nursery, this is the perfect time for anyone to plant, but he too cautions against a potential late spring freeze.
“The soil moisture makes it easier to plant, having less moisture that is,” Moherman said. “I wouldn’t be that concerned about the moisture in the soil though. It’s getting dry enough now that it can be tilled.”
For Moherman, the weather is a balancing act. Dry is great for getting flowers and vegetables in the ground, but if it’s too dry, it could hurt the plants unless they are watered.
His advice: Take the weather one day at a time.