‘Million dollar rain’ eases farmers’ concerns

By Bob Fenske, Of the Reporter

ISU Extension Agronomist Terry Basol doesn’t know any farmers who did a “happy dance” this past weekend, but then again, he’d understand if they did.

“Oh my gosh, I kind of call that a million dollar rain for our neck of the woods,” Basol said of last weekend’s precipitation that ranged from 2.80 inches near Nashua to 3.52 inches in Charles City to 3.61 inches in New Hampton. “It was getting to the point that it was becoming worrisome so the timing was, well, it was just perfect.”

Rainfall had been sparse in recent weeks; in fact, the National Weather Service reported that all three area locations received far less than the normal amount of rainfall in July. Charles City, for example, usually averages 4.92 inches of rain during the month and received just 2.17 inches this year.

Other than a light shower on the first day of the month, August had been dry until thunderstorms moved through the area Saturday night and Sunday, then returned on Thursday.

Basol said that led to concerns about topsoil moisture throughout Northeast Iowa during what is a critical time for the development of both corn and soybean plants.

The agronomist said the rainfall both last weekend and on Thursday will help “fill out the kernels” in corn plants and help with soybean pod development.

In the USDA National Agriculture Statistics Services’ weekly Iowa Crop Report released on Aug. 1, almost a quarter of farm fields in Northeast Iowa were short of topsoil moisture, but in the latest report, released on Monday, that figure dropped to 14 percent.

And the fact that high temperatures are expected to be in the 70s and low 80s through at least the middle of next week is an added bonus.

“This is such a critical time for growers, and the fact that our plants aren’t stressed from heat is huge,” Basol said. “We have the potential to bring in a nice crop this year, but we needed that rain. Now, it’s just a matter of getting some timely rains to get us to harvest.”

Still, it wasn’t all good news in the area as the weekend storms produced some spectacular lightning and strong winds that led to some tree damage in Chickasaw County.

A fire at a Reicks View Farms’ finishing barn in southern Howard County may have been caused by a lightning strike.

Reicks View officials in a press release said that multiple local fire departments including New Hampton and Alta Vista responded, and that “there was heavy damage throughout the building.”

The good news is that the heavy rainfall didn’t lead to road flooding, an issue that has plagued Chickasaw County in recent years.

“I’ve talked to our deputies and thankfully it looks like we avoided the flooding,” Chickasaw County Sheriff Marty Hemann said Sunday morning while providing traffic control at the Little Brown Church’s Marriage Reunion

“We needed the rain, that’s for sure, but it’s nice we’re not running around closing a bunch of roads,” he said.