Question: What happened to these fruit? Answer: Hail damage. A storm that happened in middle July brought hail to parts of Indiana. Hail hit small fruit, and damage became pronounced as fruit grow. More information about the damage to vegetable crops can be found in the article Hail Damage published in Vegetable Crops Hotline Issue…Read more about Answer to Question from Last Issue (8-13-2020)[Read More]
Climate and Weather
Rain moved across Indiana earlier this week, bringing much-needed precipitation to the northern counties. Unfortunately, the 30-day rainfall totals are still up to two inches below normal (Figure 1). The southern and southwestern counties are well above normal and could likely use a break for the next few days! Good news for those tiring of…Read more about Monitoring Potential Evapotranspiration Across Indiana[Read More]
On July 16th, the national Climate Prediction Center released the climate outlooks for August (Figure 1) and the August-September-October (Figure 2) period. Both outlooks are indicating a significant probability for above-normal temperatures. Precipitation is likely to be above normal for the southern two-thirds of Indiana in August, but there is little-to-no guidance for the 3-month,…Read more about Indiana Climate and Weather Outlook[Read More]
When ground level ozone is high enough to trigger an Air Quality Action Day alert from the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management (IDEM) it is a reminder that crops may be injured by ozone. A number of areas around the state have experienced alerts in recent days, e.g. July 14 in S. Indiana. If crops…Read more about Ozone Injury on Vegetable Plants[Read More]
(This article is modified from one published in issue 537 of this newsletter written by Sarah E. Hulick and Steve Reiners, Department of Horticulture Science, Cornell University, NYSAES. Liz Maynard also contributed to this article.) Recent storms have brought hail to parts of Indiana. Loss of yield and quality in vegetable crops due to hail…Read more about Hail Damage[Read More]
The past 30 days have been met with warmer than normal temperatures in the northern counties and drier than normal conditions throughout most of the state (Figures 1 and 2). This warm and dry environment is conducive to developing drought – particularly with the increased evapotranspiration rates. While climate outlooks are calling for increased confidence…Read more about Reference Evapotranspiration Forecasts across Indiana[Read More]
The roller coaster ride of Indiana weather continues. Things were drying out across the state with signs of browning lawns, rolling vegetation leaves, and lowering pond and stream levels. Then the rains came. Most of the state received between 2 and 3 inches of precipitation from June 20 through 29th – with wetter areas to…Read more about Outlooks Showing Confidence for Below-normal Precipitation[Read More]
Indiana has been very dry the last several weeks (Figure 1) and conditions are starting to show in lawns and fields. This dryness has been exacerbated by low humidity and warmer temperatures (Figure 2). After a nice respite this past weekend, temperatures will start rising again into the weekend, but may not seem too uncomfortable…Read more about Warm, Dry Weather Causing Abnormally Dry Conditions Across Indiana[Read More]
The month of May was sprinkled with a record-breaking freeze over Mother’s Day weekend, followed by heavy rainfall the following weekend, with a roller coaster of cool periods and extremely warm periods. We often think of spring as being that transition between winter and summer with lots of ups and downs, but those extremes from…Read more about June Outlook Calling for Above-Normal Temperatures[Read More]
Two weekends ago, Indiana was facing freezing temperatures that broke numerous records across the state. This past weekend into early this week, the story has been lot of rain. As of the morning of Wednesday, May 20th, the northwest counties have received over 4 inches with a northwest to southeast gradient of decreasing amounts down…Read more about Will the Flooding Continue?[Read More]