The government's long-range National Weather Forecast was released last week and it forecasts good growing weather and precipitation for crops this coming summer. But first those corn and soybeans have to be planted this spring.

Iowa is fairly wet across the state currently - in terms of going into the spring planting season with ample reserves of soil moisture in the top 5 ft. of soil. Will it take much more rain to really make things difficult in eastern Iowa?

"We do have that possibility this spring," says Elwynn Taylor, ISU Extension climatologist. "With soils now holding all the moisture they can, almost every bit of precipitation that falls on this wet ground is going to have to run off or soak into the soil and exit the field through tile drainage. So it does make us susceptible to having flooding in places in Iowa this spring."

He adds, "I was in eastern Iowa last week and saw some rivers flowing into the Mississippi River, and the water was covering a few fields nearby. So they are quite wet already in some parts of eastern Iowa."

Nice planting weather anticipated for Iowa

Do you think Iowa farmers will be able to plant on time this spring? Taylor says: "Things can change in a hurry as spring weather patterns take shape. But the clue we have right now - it's becoming increasingly wet across Iowa after a dry winter in Arkansas. If Arkansas becomes increasingly wet now, that means we'll have wet weather in Iowa about a month from now. That's because the weather pattern they have in Arkansas this month tends to be the weather pattern we will have in Iowa next month. As the days get longer, weather patterns move north."

However, if Arkansas stays below normal in moisture for the next few weeks, that would be good news for farmers in Iowa, notes Taylor. It would mean drier than normal weather in Iowa for field work and corn planting during the last half of April and into early May.

Another indicator the ISU climatologist is watching is the low pressure situation currently in the Gulf of Alaska. If it stays there, and that's a big if, then Iowa will likely turn drier than usual in coming weeks. "In Iowa we could use a couple weeks of drier than usual weather as we move into corn planting time, to help get corn and soybeans both planted on time," Taylor observes.

Long-range forecast for good summer weather

On March 19 the National Weather Service published its' "long range weather outlook" which goes all the way through summer. The government weather forecasters are looking for warmer weather than usual to the west of the Continental Divide this spring and summer.

"When the Rocky Mountains and California, Oregon and Washington are warmer than normal, we in Iowa tend to have record high corn yields. So the early indicators are positive right now for growing crops in Iowa for 2009," says Taylor.