The Ag-Climate Update is a joint effort between our climate and extension specialists. Every month the update includes a brief summary of that month, agronomic impacts, relevant maps and graphs, 1-month temperature and precipitation outlooks, monthly extremes, and notable highlights.
June 2020: Warm nights gained higher GDDs during wheat harvest
June 20th is the first day of summer. As would be expected, higher temperatures and low precipitation patterns continued through the month. June was warm and dry generally across the state. It ranked as the 17th warmest and 25th driest June since Kansas’s available instrument records (1875 or 126 years). The heat was largely driven by warm minimum temperatures, many of which set records. Statewide there were 19 new daily record highs for the daily average temperature. In contrast, there were 48 new record warm minimum temperatures.
Across the state, dry soils (mostly driven by less precipitation) and high evaporative demands (driven by warmer temperatures) combined to create stress problems for early stages of corn’s growth and development (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Leaf rolling in corn from the combined effect of heat and drought. Photo by Ignacio Ciampitti, K-State Research and Extension.
View the entire June Ag-Climate Summary, including the accompanying maps and graphics (not shown in this summary), at http://climate.k-state.edu/ag/updates/.