I just returned from the Ohio Farm Science Review to Northern Illinois. What a difference a week makes! A lot of combines in the field and ground that has been harvested, both beans and corn.

The bean combines are easy to spot by the cloud of dust - much more than usual. Beans must be powder dry across W OH, IN and EC IL.A big change over the past week from the trip out.

I guess folks can believe or not believe in "global warming". But something is up on these weather patterns.  Areas that are traditionally pretty green are powder dry and burned up. While normally dry areas are like swamps. It seems like weather patterns have shifted dramatically.

The flooding from Manitoba & North & South Dakota this time of year is very unusual. I have not seen central Ohio this dry in my memory. This big front came through the OFSR on Wed pm and brought a lot of wind but only about 1/4" of rain. Barely settled the dust for a few hours.

Is this a one year or "normal" cyclical pattern? I guess it could be. With the flooding across  S MN and into W WI this is about the 3rd time in 4 years. I really feel for you folks that posted those pictures. Some areas in WI are still recovering from the back to back "100 year floods" of 2 years ago. Just seems to me that there may be some larger shift in weather patterns.

Jim at Dawn