El Nino is abnormally above average sea surface temperatures in the eastern and central equatorial Pacific Ocean. This anomaly takes place every two to five years. The stormy weather pattern across central US during March will change. As El Nino weakens the number of storms moving across US will also reduce.
The natural process of drying and warming will be accelerated this year. Contributing to this will be lower than average snowfall this winter’s parts of US, Great Plains to the Canada Prairies and only a few storms during the springs over central US.
The accelerated warm up of during late spring will be followed by a mainly dry and above normal summers across large part of the Corn Belt of the eastern plains and the Midwest. Extreme heat and dryness will result in a stressed crop which leads to reduced yields
The anticipated drought over majority of the Corn Belt will be the first since 2012. However, it is too early to ascertain where the worst of the drought will occur with respect to east and west of the Mississippi River. There are chances of less than normal thunderstorm complex activity during the late spring and summer. Thunderstorm complexes lead to more than half of the rainfall during the early and middle of the summer.
This pattern would lead to early plantation of corn than usual. This early plantation will enable the corn to mature early before the soil gets too dry.
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