By Jim Noel
The winter has seen wild swings in the weather and climate from cold to warm to cold.
The outlook for February calls for this wild swing pattern to continue with periods of cold and mild along with periods of wet, snow and dry. The end result should be temperatures slightly colder than normal for February and precipitation at or above normal. Over the next two weeks precipitation liquid equivalent should average 1.5-2.5 inches over Ohio. Normal is about 1 inch in this period. See attached graphic for details.
La Nina continues in the eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean with cooler than normal waters. This tends to lead to more challenging years in the Ohio Valley for agriculture.
The outlook for March through May planting season continues to calls for a gradual switch from cooler than normal to start to warmer than normal by later May. It also overall suggests wetter than normal with a possible switch to drier than normal by May or June.
The outlook for summer growing season calls for warmer and drier than normal from the latest climate models.