Crop Weather Report

Montana Crop Weather Report

Issue: 09-24
For the Week Ending: August 23, 2009
Released: August 23, 2009
For more information contact: Lindsey Houska or Steve Anderson at 1-800-835-2612.

Completed and Summarized by:
USDA, NASS, Montana Field Office

In conjunction with: MSU Extension Agents
and USDA County Service Centers

Weather Summary

Montana experienced average temperatures with light precipitation for the week ending August 23rd. Highs were in the 80s and 90s, and lows were mostly in the 30s and 40s. Ennis and Gardiner shared the high temperature of 96 degrees, and Wisdom had the low temperature of 27 degrees. Martinsdale received the greatest amount of weekly precipitation at 0.58 of an inch. Topsoil moisture is 72 percent adequate and surplus, up from last week's 71 percent, last year's 18 percent, and the five-year average of 21 percent. Subsoil moisture is 51 percent adequate and surplus, up from last week's 47 percent, last year's 20 percent and the five-year average of 20 percent. The number of days suitable for field work was 5.0, compared to last week's 4.0. Montana temperatures are forecasted to be above normal and precipitation is forecasted to be below normal for August 31st to September 6th. Normal temperatures for this period in the state are highs ranging from 70 to 80 degrees and lows in the mid 30s to the lower 50s.

Soil Moisture Table	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Yr Avg
Topsoil Moisture
Very Short	7	8	30	35
Short	21	21	52	44
Adequate	69	67	18	20
Surplus	3	4	0	1
Subsoil Moisture
Very Short	9	16	29	37
Short	40	37	51	43
Adequate	50	46	20	20
Surplus	1	1	0	0

Field Work Table	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Yr Avg
Days Suitable for Field Work
Days	5.0	4.0	6.1	6.1

Field Crops Report

Recent warm temperatures have dried out some fields around the state, but harvest is still behind. Producers in the south central district have started harvesting corn for silage. Grasshoppers continue to be a concern in the state. The small grains are almost all turned. Conditions of dry peas and lentils are worse than last week but ratings are mostly fair to good. The sugar beet crop is in good to excellent condition.

Crop Progress Table	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Yr Avg
Turning
Barley	91	77	100	98
Durum Wheat	81	66	95	89
Flaxseed	97	90	100	n/a
Spring Wheat	92	79	100	99
Hay- Second Cutting
Alfalfa	61	42	74	71
Other Hay	42	21	56	61
Harvested
Barley	26	7	56	64
Corn for Silage	5	n/a	n/a	n/a
Dry Beans	12	n/a	59	29
Dry Peas	58	37	92	n/a
Durum Wheat	8	2	49	46
Flaxseed	41	22	72	n/a
Lentils	38	21	84	n/a
Mustard Seed	28	18	88	n/a
Oats	61	24	67	71
Spring Wheat	22	4	58	62
Winter Wheat	78	56	85	93

Crop Condition Table	This Week	Last Week		Last Year
Barley
Very Poor	1	2	2
Poor	6	10	8
Fair	27	31	41
Good	43	42	42
Excellent	23	15	7
Spring Wheat
Very Poor	3	5	5
Poor	11	13	16
Fair	44	35	36
Good	35	39	38
Excellent	7	8	5
Durum Wheat
Very Poor	2	3	18
Poor	12	12	28
Fair	39	36	31
Good	33	35	22
Excellent	14	14	1
Dry Peas
Very Poor	0	0	n/a
Poor	10	12	n/a
Fair	56	41	n/a
Good	28	38	n/a
Excellent	6	9	n/a

Livestock Report

Range and pasture feed conditions have improved from last week with 32 percent good to excellent compared to 28 percent the previous week. Above average precipitation this summer has kept pastures in good shape, allowing farmers to hold off on moving livestock.

Range & Livestock Table	This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5 Yr Avg
Range and Pasture Feed Condition
Very Poor	3	9	9	11
Poor	17	19	27	23
Fair	48	44	36	36
Good	28	26	21	25
Excellent	4	2	7	5
Livestock Moved From Summer Ranges
Cattle and Calves	3	n/a	5	7
Sheep and Lambs	2	n/a	6	6

Weather Information for the Week ending 08/23/2009

Station ID						Precipitation
	Temperature			GDDs		This Week		April 1 to Date			October 1 to Date
	Hi	LOW	AVG	B50	DFN	Total	DFN	Total	DFN	%NRM	Total	DFN	%NRM
NORTHWEST
Alberton	95	46	67	121	+10	0.02	-0.26	7.00	+0.31	105	18.57	+6.14	149
Anaconda	92	36	65	110	+19	0.23	-0.12	10.76	+3.27	144	19.32	+7.45	163
Clinton	93	45	68	128	+55	0.00	-0.25	7.00	+0.69	111	13.75	-0.07	99
Corvallis	91	40	67	119	+11	0.00	-0.28	3.59	-2.50	59	8.65	-1.68	84
Creston	90	44	68	125	+32	0.00	-0.35	6.63	-3.36	66	14.81	-3.38	81
Deer Lodge	91	34	63	90	+16	0.08	-0.20	6.24	-0.51	92	9.60	+0.44	105
Drummond	94	35	65	104	+10	0.09	-0.24	5.82	-0.90	87	12.71	+1.48	113
Hamilton	93	39	66	113	+11	0.03	-0.25	4.80	-1.44	77	12.01	+0.01	100
Kalispell	90	44	65	108	+19	0.01	-0.27	7.76	-0.13	98	15.26	-0.44	97
Missoula	93	47	68	129	+18	0.02	-0.26	5.59	-1.10	84	11.70	-0.73	94
Olney	87	35	61	76	+4	0.09	-0.26	7.64	-1.66	82	18.39	-2.74	87
Polson	90	45	67	121	+2	0.00	-0.28	5.39	-2.63	67	10.98	-3.46	76
St Ignatius	92	44	68	129	+13	0.00	-0.28	6.01	-2.61	70	14.32	-0.49	97
Seeley Lake	92	39	63	89	+1	0.01	-0.34	6.82	-0.59	92	22.25	+3.26	117
Sula	94	33	62	83	+17	0.02	-0.33	8.90	+0.51	106	15.60	+1.15	108
Superior	95	46	70	141	+18	0.00	-0.35	6.78	+0.19	103	16.64	+1.72	112
Swan Lake	90	39	63	95	+25	0.00	-0.42	7.90	-1.88	81	22.86	-3.48	87
Thompson Falls	93	47	71	146	+14	0.00	-0.28	7.19	-0.88	89	20.33	-1.26	94
West Glacier	86	43	64	97	+8	0.03	-0.36	10.51	-0.31	97	25.94	-0.50	98
NORTH CENTRAL
Chester	90	43	65	105	-3	0.07	-0.21	7.14	+0.07	101	12.53	+3.08	133
Chinook	88	45	64	99	-21	0.25	-0.04	6.74	-1.43	82	9.90	-1.31	88
Choteau	89	37	64	97	-12	0.04	-0.31	7.65	+0.42	106	10.22	+1.23	114
Cut Bank	91	40	65	103	+15	0.01	-0.41	3.65	-4.82	43	5.02	-5.87	46
Ft Assinniboine	90	46	65	109	-21	0.24	-0.04	7.75	-0.49	94	11.74	+0.28	102
Fort Benton	91	43	67	117	-12	0.11	-0.24	7.46	-0.95	89	11.49	-0.56	95
Goldbutte	91	39	65	106	+11	0.10	-0.32	6.10	-2.53	71	8.76	-2.98	75
Harlem	87	44	66	113	-7	0.14	-0.07	6.28	-1.16	84	9.56	-0.33	97
Havre	93	44	67	122	+1	0.28	+0.00	5.88	-1.16	84	8.60	-1.54	85
Malta	88	47	66	117	-4	0.38	+0.12	7.19	-1.23	85	11.23	-0.12	99
Rudyard	89	44	66	110	-4	0.03	-0.25	6.66	-0.17	98	10.21	+1.56	118
Shelby	91	38	63	95	-1	0.06	-0.29	6.72	-1.02	87	9.68	-1.00	91
Turner	87	44	65	104	-7	0.30	+0.09	6.27	-1.19	84	8.62	-1.07	89
Valier	86	45	66	110	+0	0.00	-0.42	7.70	-0.65	92	10.69	+0.05	100
NORTHEAST
Bredette	89	44	64	97	-31	0.15	-0.13	8.93	-0.11	99	13.54	+2.11	118
Culbertson	91	43	66	111	-22	0.09	-0.17	9.15	+0.10	101	13.31	+1.61	114
Glasgow	91	48	66	111	-22	0.29	+0.01	6.85	-0.54	93	10.05	+0.12	101
Glendive	91	44	65	110	-37	0.22	-0.08	9.98	+1.39	116	13.41	+1.64	114
Jordan	90	45	65	104	-36	0.46	+0.23	7.83	-0.21	97	11.43	+0.10	101
Nashua	93	48	67	120	-29	0.28	+0.03	7.15	-0.88	89	10.77	+0.49	105
Opheim	85	38	61	76	-26	0.11	-0.12	7.52	-1.26	86	10.40	-0.49	96
Plentywood	89	43	64	101	-20	0.00	-0.28	8.99	+0.29	103	13.36	+1.93	117
St Marie	88	45	65	107	-26	0.18	-0.10	6.28	-1.11	85	7.92	-2.01	80
Scobey	90	38	63	91	-18	0.08	-0.27	9.61	+0.63	107	13.77	+2.55	123
Sidney	91	45	66	112	-27	0.14	-0.14	7.57	-1.44	84	11.32	-1.13	91
Wolf Point	95	43	65	109	-38	0.32	+0.07	6.90	-0.89	89	8.77	-1.65	84
CENTRAL
Cascade	88	34	62	87	+6	0.00	-0.35	6.96	-2.09	77	10.70	-1.84	85
Grass Range	85	37	64	103	-6	0.13	-0.22	11.95	+1.37	113	17.42	+2.59	117
Great Falls	89	44	66	112	+6	0.00	-0.41	9.35	+0.48	105	13.96	+0.71	105
Harlowton	87	40	62	86	-17	0.05	-0.30	9.47	+0.29	103	13.29	+0.78	106
Helena	93	45	69	137	+24	0.23	-0.06	6.20	-0.62	91	9.96	+0.02	100
Lewistown	88	42	63	91	-10	0.17	-0.25	9.25	-1.49	86	12.55	-3.43	79
Martinsdale	89	38	63	95	+16	0.58	+0.23	8.65	-0.02	100	13.08	+1.11	109
Neihart	87	36	61	77	-12	0.30	-0.19	10.58	-1.93	85	17.25	-1.61	91
Rogers Pass	90	40	62	88	-6	0.33	-0.09	9.52	-0.98	91	15.21	-0.45	97
Roundup	91	46	68	129	-5	0.09	-0.19	9.53	+1.13	113	13.87	+2.23	119
Ryegate	86	38	61	79	-30	0.10	-0.25	9.31	+0.99	112	13.32	+1.84	116
Stanford	87	41	65	107	-3	0.22	-0.20	7.87	-2.88	73	12.36	-2.82	81
Townsend	94	37	66	115	+7	0.03	-0.30	7.22	+0.35	105	10.47	+1.13	112
Valentine	91	45	64	99	-18	0.18	-0.12	9.40	+0.66	108	13.56	+1.43	112
Wht Sulphur Spr	89	34	62	83	-5	0.09	-0.17	8.88	+0.80	110	15.89	+4.24	136
SOUTHWEST
Boulder	88	37	64	101	+7	0.13	-0.18	9.12	+1.81	125	13.12	+3.00	130
Bozeman	90	39	65	109	+8	0.10	-0.22	11.20	+1.80	119	16.44	+2.01	114
Butte	92	36	62	88	+10	0.18	-0.12	7.90	+0.28	104	10.96	-0.40	96
Dillon	95	36	65	107	+12	0.00	-0.28	6.57	+0.14	102	9.04	+0.41	105
Ennis	96	32	62	88	-2	0.08	-0.27	6.49	-1.67	80	10.93	-1.09	91
Lakeview	91	33	62	87	+29	0.15	-0.20	7.48	-2.38	76	14.16	-3.01	82
W Yellowstone	90	35	60	74	+22	0.05	-0.23	11.08	+2.34	127	20.44	+0.51	103
Wisdom	92	27	62	86	+43	0.19	-0.05	7.98	+1.36	121	13.84	+3.18	130
SOUTH CENTRAL
Billings	92	50	70	139	-4	0.03	-0.17	5.80	-2.20	73	11.27	-1.90	86
Cooke City	82	28	54	34	-3	0.24	-0.25	10.53	-0.47	96	15.57	-7.41	68
Gardiner	96	37	68	127	+7	0.00	-0.16	5.42	-0.09	98	7.85	-0.81	91
Hardin	94	47	69	135	-17	0.19	+0.05	6.09	-0.52	92	9.33	-1.24	88
Huntley	93	41	66	113	-14	0.09	-0.12	8.64	+0.58	107	14.41	+2.01	116
Hysham	90	46	67	118	-22	0.18	-0.03	10.15	+2.22	128	15.98	+4.17	135
Joliet	89	40	63	89	-29	0.10	-0.18	6.91	-1.59	81	12.29	-1.72	88
Livingston	92	39	65	106	-7	0.07	-0.26	10.88	+1.50	116	13.66	-0.16	99
Nye	89	39	63	90	-8	0.04	-0.31	8.82	-2.14	80	16.03	-0.16	99
Rapelje	91	41	66	114	-8	0.14	-0.14	10.59	+1.63	118	15.21	+1.60	112
SOUTHEAST
Albion	91	43	61	80	-44	0.29	-0.03	11.23	+1.26	113	18.41	+5.42	142
Baker	93	42	63	94	-38	0.52	+0.20	10.69	+1.71	119	13.99	+1.02	108
Broadus	93	43	67	117	-25	0.21	+0.03	6.78	-1.43	83	13.17	+0.88	107
Ekalaka	92	42	64	101	-34	0.09	-0.19	8.17	-2.36	78	15.86	+0.51	103
Miles City	94	50	68	127	-29	0.23	+0.02	8.11	-0.36	96	11.08	-0.89	93
Plevna	92	38	65	105	-27	0.16	-0.16	10.10	+1.12	112	14.39	+1.42	111
Compiled by AWIS Inc. based on NWS data. DFN-Departure from normal 1971-2000. GDD-Growing degree days

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