It’s a messy Monday to start off the week for weather. U.S. Farm Report meteorologist Mike Hoffman acknowledging most of the rain and snow will hit portions of the country that doesn’t really need the moisture right now.
Hoffman says the moisture in the root zone moisture map expanded in again this past week, especially in parts of the Southeast. He says Mississippi, Tennessee and northern Alabama saw more moisture.
“Like we showed last week, it’s wetter in many of these areas than it was a year ago,” says Hoffman. “Now, that doesn’t mean we’re going to have another wet spring like we had last year, but at least the beginning of it looks like we’ll probably start that way.”
The moisture story is different story out West. Drought is spreading and root zone moisture map is searching for moisture. Even California saw drought start to show up on the drought monitor the past two weeks.
Hoffman says his forecast this week shows a big storm system shaping up, bringing both rain and snow from the beginning to the middle of the week. He says much colder air will sweep in behind that.
“Then, another storm system is lurking offshore by the end of the week, but if that comes inland - and how quickly - is something we’ll just have to watch.”
Beyond this week, Hoffman is forecasting below normal temperatures over next 30 days for most of the country. His precipitation outlook for much of March shows above normal precipitation for southeast, and below normal for most of Corn Belt and western portion of the country.
