Frost may nip soybean crop early next week

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — The AccuWeather.com Agricultural Forecast Center reports a scattered frost may nip the soybean crop in the upper Midwest early next week.
“In this region, it is normal to have the first frost around this time of year,” explains AccuWeather.com agriculture Expert Senior Meteorologist Dale Mohler. “What’s unusual is that crops were planted later this season, which makes them more vulnerable than they would normally be to a frost that occurs now.”
Areas in southern Minnesota, northern Iowa and Wisconsin may see temperatures drop to the lower 30s early next week.
Wind and cloud cover over the Ohio Valley will protect areas from southern Iowa to Chicago. Overall, about 10 percent of the United States soybean crop is at risk.
However, according to Mohler, “even in the worst case scenario, only a small percentage of that portion may be damaged from the frost.”
Beyond this frost, the weather should warm up in the later half of next week, staying mild through the middle of October.
“This frost will be the one event that will adversely affect the crop in the next few weeks, but it looks like it will be pretty minor” says Mohler.