Illinois farmers escape early freeze event – Brownfield Ag News

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Illinois farmers escape early freeze occasion

Frost coated areas of Illinois this week, however the state climatologist says farmers escaped an early freeze occasion.

Trent Ford tells Brownfield Tuesday evening was the best likelihood for an early freeze.

“There have been a few stations that did get shut. Monmouth acquired to 34, Macomb acquired to 33, however we didn’t see that under freezing mark.”

Ford noticed studies of frosted fields as far south as I-64.

He says a delicate warm-up over the subsequent 7 to 10 days ought to put temperatures nearer to common and push any potential freeze occasions additional out.

“The primary fall freeze sometimes comes the second or third week of October in northern Illinois, the third to fourth week of October in central Illinois and the primary couple weeks of November in southern Illinois. That’s the median over the past 30 years or so.”

He says an early fall freeze wouldn’t pose as a lot of a menace to row crops as a late spring freeze, however there’s a danger for cracking in low moisture soybeans.  

“Nevertheless it actually takes getting right down to 27 or 28 levels to see these impacts.”       

He says an early freeze occasion would influence high quality of specialty crops like pumpkins and apples, however most are hardy to temperatures within the low thirties.