Warm October temps wrap up this weekend
The unseasonably warm temperatures this week are predicted to decrease starting Friday as precipitation rolls into Southwestern Pennsylvania during the weekend.
“What I can tell you is there is a cold front that is coming through Friday night into Saturday,” Myranda Fullerton, meteorologist at the National Weather Service Pittsburgh office, said. “Friday, our high temperature will be up in the upper 70s, around 80 degrees, and by Saturday, with the rain and the clouds, we are anticipating highs in the mid 60s, a break from the warmth.”
Rain is predicted for the weekend, she said, but the region should be dry by Monday. The National Weather Service forecast predicts that the low temperatures for the region will return to the 40s this weekend as well.
Fullerton said the temperature fluctuations are more common than people think for autumn in the area.
“Fall is known as a secondary severe weather season,” she said. “You can get these warmer temperatures and these stronger cold fronts that come through. Everybody is usually caught off guard by the fact that we can see warm (temperatures) during fall, but it's common.”
The average high temperature for Western Pennsylvania at this time of year is 64 degrees, Fullerton said, so the cold front will bring the region back toward the average value.
“It's not highly unusual, given that transition from summer to winter,” she said.
Justin Brackenrich, an educator at the Penn State Extension office in Butler County, said warmer temperatures have led some farmers to reexamine which crops they should be planting as cover. Cover crops are designed to reduce soil erosion after cash crops such as beans or corn are harvested.“They're designed to hold the soil in place,” he said. “In a colder year, a lot of times what we would use is wheat or rye because those are more cold-tolerant crops. Because we do have these warmer conditions, questions are coming up as to whether we can add some clover or legume.”Brackenrich also said the warmer daytime temperature conditions have led to a heavier dew on crops.“Even though conditions are good for harvesting and we're not seeing the rain, we now see high temperature days that hold moisture, and then cooler nights,” he said. “We have to wait for that dew to come off of crops before we can harvest them.”Where farmers would usually be worried about fitting in harvesting between rainy days, they're now concerned about crops taking too long to dry off and lose their dew moisture. Beans, Brackenrich said, are particularly sensitive.“The lower the moisture is when we harvest, the less we'll have to pay for propane and other sources to dry that bean down,” he said. “Usually this time of year, we are not at 70 degrees.”
If temperatures and humidity continue to stay at unusual levels, he said, further concerns about molding and rotting of crops might develop.“We did see some of the mold in our corn after we dealt with the hurricane in September and got a lot of moisture and high temperatures,” he said. “That increases our mold, and stalk rot that can develop. Those things are going to start to slow down when we're below 50 (degrees). But when we're still at 75, 80 degrees, it can lead to some problems with corn.”One particularly worrying potential issue is that of “lodging,” when corn stalks are afflicted with enough fungal infections that they start to fall over, making harvesting difficult.“Right now, it's fostering the growth of those fungal infections, but we haven't gotten to the point where we're starting to see a bunch of lodging and harvest problems yet,” he said. “People are still able to get the crops. If these crops start to sit in the field into November and December and they get really heavy loads on, that's when that starts (to get bad).”Despite harvest slowdowns from dew, Brackenrich said that farmers aren't too worried just yet.“I think most of them are pretty content at where they are,” he said. “Obviously, everybody would like to be closer to done, but as far as years go, we're in good shape and falling in line with a lot of others.”
