Weather Update for Produce Growers May 7, 2020

Authors: Natalie Hoidal and Annie Klodd, UMN Extension Educators for Fruit and Vegetable Production

This article shows precipitation, soil temperatures, and growing degree days throughout Minnesota, in order to assist specialty crop growers in Minnesota with their crop production plans. 

Precipitation

Much of Minnesota is experiencing lower than average precipitation for the timeframe of April 1st to May 5th. See precipitation maps below. 

Precipitation and % average precipitation for Minnesota. Source: Minnesota Dept. of Nat. Res. Weekmaps.

Soil Temperatures

The Minnesota Department of Agriculture publishes daily updated soil temperatures for major field crop growing regions of the state. Data is compiled from MDA managed stations in the Southern half of the state, and NDAWN managed stations in the northern half. As such, the data is presented slightly differently. The following tables provide a snapshot of soil temperatures across the state. For more detailed info, see https://app.gisdata.mn.gov/mda-soiltemp/

Table 1: Soil temperatures from MDA stations, data collected to 6’’ depth

Table 2: Soil temperatures from ND-managed stations in MN

Growing Degree Days

The following map shows approximate accumulated growing degree days for the Midwest region, including Minnesota, using a base temperature of 50 degrees F. For more information on how the data was calculated or displayed, visit the Midwest Regional Climate Center website. 

Image: AGDD map for Midwest. Courtesy Midwest Regional Climate Center.