Wyoming Crop Weather

United States Department of Agriculture
National Agricultural Statistics Service

Wyoming Field Office
PO Box 1148 · Cheyenne, WY 82003
307-432-5600 • FAX 307-432-5598 • www.nass.usda.gov/wy

Released:   Monday, September 15, 2008

Week of September 8 – 14, 2008

Agricultural Summary: Cold nights with scattered showers.

Crop progress behind normal.

Range and pasture conditions lack moisture.

Wyoming has experienced scattered rain showers last week. Nights remained cold with warmer days. High temperatures ranged from high 60’s to mid 80’s. Low temperatures were in the low 20’s to 40. Topsoil moisture levels rated adequate or better increased to 68 percent, 5 points above the previous week and 35 points up from the average. Stock water supplies were 82 percent adequate or better, 40 points above the average.

Topsoil	This
Week	Last
Week	Last
Year	5-Yr Avg	
Very Short	3	6	24	23	
Short	29	31	41	44	
Adequate	66	60	34	33	
Surplus
	2	3	1	0	
Subsoil					
Very Short	19	N/A	41	36	
Short	36	N/A	40	41	
Adequate	45	N/A	19	23	
Surplus
	0	N/A	0	0	
Crop Progress Table	
Item	This
Week
	Last
Week
	Last
 Year
	5-Yr Avg	
Barley Harvested	89	85	96	96	
Oats Harvested	92	85	95	92	
Spring Wht Harvested	95	83	100	96	
Winter Wht Planted	72	33	77	71	
Winter Wht Emerged	12	0	38	31	
Corn Milked	90	73	96	97	
Corn Dough	73	47	87	85	
Corn Dent	40	17	66	58	
Corn Mature	6	0	21	21	
Corn Silage Harvested	27	11	36	43	
Dry Beans Leaves Turning	84	65	92	94	
Dry Beans Windrowed	26	12	54	52	
Dry Beans Combined	9	3	20	26	
Alfalfa Hay Second Cutting	94	90	98	97	
Alfalfa Hay Third Cutting	21	16	36	32	

Field Crop Report:  During last week an average of 5.0 days were suitable for fieldwork. Crop progress remained behind normal due to cold nights. Eighty-nine percent of barley was harvested, 7 points below the previous year as well as the average. Oats were rated harvested at 92 percent, 3 points below the previous year but no change from the 5-year average. Ninety-five percent of the spring wheat was harvested, 5 points below the previous year but only 1 point below the average. Winter wheat was planted at 72 percent with 12 percent emerged, 19 points below the average. Eighty-four percent of dry beans were turning color with 26 percent windrowed and 9 percent combined, 11 points below 2007 and 17 points below the average. Nine-tenths of corn was in the milk stage, 73 percent in the dough stage, 40 percent dented and 6 percent mature, 15 points below 2007 as well as the 5-year average. Twenty-seven percent of corn has been harvested for silage, 9 points below the previous year and 16 points below the average. Ninety-four percent of the alfalfa has been cut for the second time with 21 percent cut for the third time, 15 points below last year and 11 points below the average. 

Crop Condition Table	
Item	V Poor	Poor	Fair	Good	Excel	
Corn	0	2	23	75	0	
Sugarbeets	0	1	17	82	0	
Dry Beans	0	0	15	85	0	

Livestock, Pasture, and Range Report:
Range and pasture conditions were reported at 41 percent good or better, which increased by 1 point from last week but was 19 points above the average. Additional moisture is needed in order for the grass to grow in time for fall grazing.
  
Stock Water	

		This
Week
	Last
Year
	5-Yr Avg	
Very Short		2	14	24	
Short		16	38	34	
Adequate		80	48	42	
Surplus		2	0	0	

Range and Pasture Feed	

	This
Week
	Last
Week
	Last
 Year
	5-Yr Avg	
Very Poor	2	2	7	22	
Poor	13	14	26	24	
Fair	44	44	37	32	
Good	34	34	26	19	
Excellent	7	6	4	3	

USDA is an equal opportunity provider and employer.

Weather Summary:  Temperatures during the week ending Sunday, September 14 averaged below normal in all but two of the reporting stations. Average temperatures ranged from 9 degrees below normal at Midwest and Newcastle to 2 degrees above normal at Big Piney and Evanston. The high temperature was 85 at Lance Creek and Gillette while the low was 23 degrees at Lake Yellowstone and Shirley Basin. Seventy six percent of the reporting stations reported above normal precipitation. However, the cumulative precipitation is still low in 15 of the 33 reporting stations. The largest amount of the precipitation was reported in Midwest at 1.09 inches, 0.88 inches above normal.

Weather Data for the Week Ending Sunday, September 14, 2008 1/

	Weekly Air Temperature	Weekly Precipitation	Since Jan 1
Precipitation	
	Hi	Lo	Avg	DFN	Total Inches	Normal Inches	DFN	Total Inches	DFN	
District 1	
Cody	79	37	53	-7	0.23	0.28	-0.05	7.80	-0.76	
Dubois	73	31	49	-3	0.26	0.28	-0.02	7.76	0.29	
Greybull	85	37	55	-5	0.09	0.21	-0.12	5.48	-0.35	
Jeffrey City	76	32	52	-5	0.28	0.18	0.10	6.58	-1.75	
Lake Yellowstone	69	23	44	-2	0.05	0.36	-0.31	11.50	-3.38	
Lander	76	38	54	-7	0.37	0.27	0.10	11.05	1.23	
Powell	77	31	50	-8	0.07	0.14	-0.07	5.53	-0.14	
Riverton	76	38	54	-5	0.26	0.21	0.05	6.77	0.53	
Worland	84	39	54	-8	0.47	0.21	0.26	6.31	0.16	
District 2										
Big Horn	81	31	51	-8	1.02	0.31	0.71	15.07	3.99	
Buffalo-Johnson	83	33	52	-7	0.93	0.32	0.61	12.93	2.18	
Gillette	85	32	54	-6	0.51	0.33	0.18	14.60	1.85	
Mid-West	81	32	51	-9	1.09	0.21	0.88	13.83	3.06	
Newcastle	79	34	53	-9	0.52	0.28	0.24	19.55	6.67	
Sheridan	83	30	52	-8	0.96	0.31	0.65	12.48	1.28	
Sundance	74	35	56	-3	0.42	0.28	0.14	17.89	3.01	
District 3										
Big Piney	72	31	50	2	0.47	0.21	0.26	4.05	-1.69	
Evanston	76	37	55	2	0.24	0.28	-0.04	5.99	-2.21	
Jackson Hole	75	28	51	-2	0.15	0.32	-0.17	12.11	-2.92	
Thayne	76	31	52	-1	0.00	0.37	-0.37	6.58	-6.34	
District 4										
Casper	84	29	54	-6	0.47	0.21	0.26	10.19	0.28	
Laramie	75	32	52	-3	0.90	0.22	0.68	8.09	-0.93	
Rawlins	79	33	54	-5	0.75	0.21	0.54	5.41	-1.88	
Rock Springs	74	37	54	-2	0.36	0.21	0.15	5.48	-1.42	
Shirley Basin	73	23	45	-5	0.46	0.21	0.25	8.46	0.33	
District 5										
Buford	73	34	51	-1	0.94	0.36	0.58	15.99	3.79	
Cheyenne	79	37	54	-4	0.72	0.35	0.37	13.15	0.22	
Chugwater	83	33	54	-4	0.84	0.28	0.56	14.34	1.49	
Douglas	84	32	55	-5	0.62	0.28	0.34	9.78	-0.36	
Lance Creek	85	36	55	-7	0.45	0.26	0.19	10.64	-0.40	
Old Fort Laramie	81	39	55	-6	0.58	0.28	0.30	10.79	-0.27	
Torrington	80	40	57	-5	0.39	0.32	0.07	11.81	0.48	
Wheatland	84	35	56	-7	0.50	0.34	0.16	14.14	3.38	
1/ Summary based on NWS data.  DFN=Departure from Normal.  Precipitation (rain or melted snow/ice) in inches.  Air Temperatures in Degrees Fahrenheit.  Weather data prepared by AWIS, Inc.  For more weather information visit www.awis.com or call 1-888-798-9955