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Too wet and too dry slices through Michigan
A climatologist says Michigan has been the divide for precipitation in the Midwest the past few weeks.
Michigan State University’s Nathan Moore says a line between record flooding across the Upper Midwest and drier regions of the Eastern Corn Belt cuts diagonally through the center of the mitten.
“Soils are drying out more quickly in the South part of the state and it’s even more dramatic as you go further South, places like the Illinois, Indiana and Ohio are seeing much drier soils and they’re also seeing warmer soil,” he explains.
While the short-term forecast is cooler and drier, Moore says activity over the Pacific Ocean is expected to bring additional rain events in the coming weeks, but the precipitation totals should be lower.
“The smaller amounts, not the five and six inches we saw previously,” he forecasts. “You can see the wave trains coming through. There’s a series of warm front, cold front, warm front, cold front that are going to be sliding right on through.”
He says soil evaporation rates during that period should be more moderate which could benefit crops ahead of a significant warm up and drier conditions expected toward the end of July.
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