October began with some record-breaking high temperatures recorded at both Grand Island and Hastings airports. Just a day later, a cold front dropped the mercury and brought snow to some, but all season-ending freezes were recorded statewide by mid-October.
The last month has been a challenge for producers to get their crops harvested in a timely manner, Al Dutcher writes for our partners at CropWatch. Precipitation has been a problem for two months, with periodic bouts of extended heavy rain at the end of August into early September and late September into mid-October. This recent stretch of dry weather has finally been long enough for the soybean harvest to make significant progress.
September brought it all. We saw nearly triple-digit heat, below-freezing temperatures and record-setting rainfall. The mix of conditions slowed harvest for agriculture producers across the state, but also eradicated the remaining drought in the southeast corner of the state.
Read more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the September edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.
For the past two years, the Nebraska Extension Climate Issue Team has worked to address crop industry needs through workshops, listening sessions and the creation of interactive graphics tied to research-based information. The Nebraska State Climate Office was a key piece in providing the climate trends, projections and scientific information for the discussions.
Temperatures were near normal, if slightly on the cool side, through August, and bouts of rain were nearly continuous in portions of the state, hindering hay baling in some regions. Heavy rain in the Omaha metro area on Aug. 19 and 20 brought a totally of 8.33 inches, 6.17 of which fell on the 20th. Read more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the August edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.
The Nebraska State Climate Office is conducting a survey of Nebraska Mesonet users through at least the end of September.
“Weather impacts us all, and we want Nebraska’s network to meet or exceed the needs of our users,” said Martha Shulski, NSCO director. “We want this survey to answer the question: ‘Why do you care about Nebraska’s ever-changing weather?’
July started off following June’s lead and giving Nebraska temperatures that registered above normal, but by month’s end, a cool-down brought the mercury below normal. Rainfall was varied, and drought continued to creep into the southeast corner of the state. Read more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the July edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.
Since our last newsletter, we’ve installed seven new weather stations across the state, which will help to boost our monitoring and decision-support services to Nebraskans. During the quarter, we also hosted the American Association of State Climatologists annual meeting, which brought together climatologists and weather station managers from nearly every state and regional climate center in the United States.
It’s summer, and the temperatures across much of Nebraska have been HOT. We’ve also seen plenty of rain, which has led to much of the state seeing drought diminish or be eliminated. Learn more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the June edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.
After a cold and snowy April, Nebraska seemingly skipped spring and went right to summer in May. Average temperatures were 2 degrees to 8 degrees above average across the state, with five stations ranking within the top five warmest for the period of record. At the same time, the state saw about half the normal amount of rainfall. Learn more about how this month’s climate effected Nebraskans in the May edition of the Climate Update from the Nebraska State Climate Office.
