Water stands in a corn field Wednesday, February 27, 2013, near Lafayette after yesterday's rain, ice and sleet. Staff photo by Michael Heinz
The alarming red and dark burgundy overlays vanished months ago from the U.S. Drought Monitor’s map of Indiana, and signs are good that the brutally dry, hot summer of 2012 is not likely to repeat this year.
“It will be warmer and wetter to start the planting season,” said Dev Niyogi, the state climatologist based at Purdue University. “This is expected to turn to some drying in the growing season, leading to mild to moderate drought conditions across Indiana.”
Specifically, the forecast for March through May in Indiana calls for temperatures about two degrees higher than normal and precipitation about 2-1/2 inches heavier than normal, according to a press release from Purdue University.
But mild to moderate drought at some point in the growing season is not unusual in Indiana, Ken Scheeringa, assistant state climatologist, said Wednesday as a steady rain fell for a second day in a row.
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