It is an important time of year for soil temperatures as farmers and gardeners anxiously await warm enough soils and reduced threat of freezing before planting. Our recent bout of chilly temperatures and even snow has not helped the situation as illustrated by the featured chart. The chart shows daily soil temperature ranges along with an hourly average value from the Ames ISU Soil Moisture Network station. The 50 degree threshold is generally needed to support corn development and is highlighted on the chart. The last five days have seen values well below that threshold. This situation pretty much happens every year with early April warm leading to early soil warm optimism, but then followed by the reality that is early spring in Iowa!

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