October is off to a wet start and the wet weather is expected to continue over the next 14 days for Illinois. This could have an impact on the already slow fall harvest season in Illinois. The USDA NASS report on Monday noted that 14% of the corn crop in Illinois was harvested, compared to a 5-year average of 34%. Also, 10% of the soybean crop was harvested compared to the 5-year average of 18%.
Here is the precipitation over the past 24 hours. Amounts of 1 to 3 inches were widespread across central Illinois. This was the same area that received much above average precipitation in September, according to the post on September.
Here is the NWS Quantitative Precipitation Forecast for the next 7 days. The heaviest precipitation is expected to fall in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Michigan. For Illinois, amounts are in the range of 1 to almost 3 inches.
And here are the NWS 6-10 and 8-14 precipitation forecasts showing above average precipitation across all of Illinois and much of the Corn Belt out to October 15. In an earlier post, it was noted that the NWS outlook for the month of October was for a increased chance of above-average precipitation for Illinois and the Midwest. It looks like that forecast is likely to pan out.
