Breaking the Cycle!

Finally, we're breaking the cycle and there is an end to winter in the forecast!

We'll start with winter and nearly jump to summer all in one week!

Lately the average temperatures have been quite cold as Arctic air from northern Canada bullied into the Lower 48. Every time a storm system would dive into the Pacific Northwest, it would try to warm Iowa up for a day or two. But ultimately these storms would drag down more cold as they passed plunging us back into winter mode on a weekly basis. Snowfall to our north and west compounded issues by refrigerating the ground and inhibiting a decent warm-up.

Stuck in a winter rut! The 4" soil temps mirror the average
air temp.

Our break in the pattern comes by the end of this week. Instead of a storm every 3-5 days, we'll take a break in the action possibly going 5 to 7 days without a storm. At the same time a ridge of high pressure will build in the upper levels allowing us to get quality sunshine -the key to our warmth!

Soil temps look good for Morels after the 28th central  and southern
Iowa.

Sunshine this time of year is as strong as late August sunshine. We'll see this by the end of the week and our temps will jump up quickly. With average temps up in the 50s and 60s soil temperatures will also respond. Once the 4" soil temp jumps into the low 50s, the environment becomes favorable for Morels!

The grass says spring, but the trees still say winter. Once we get a week in the 60s and 70s, I expect to see an explosion of spring blooms. It will also be nice to dry out after such heavy recent rains, although we still have a sub-soil deficit from the long term drought.

Flooding rains have broken the drought for eastern Iowa and placed
central Iowa in the top 4 wettest Aprils.

With all the moisture lately and some warmer temps, Morels are likely to really start popping this weekend south of I-80. If we can keep temps up in the 70s and 80s (seems plausible), we will see conditions develop for widespread Morels after April 28th.

We had some spring warmth at the beginning of the month,
but it wasn't enough to loosen Old Man Winter's Grip

I expect that the bigger species of bigfoot morels and common yellows to become widespread in central and southern Iowa May 4th through the 11th. Friends in northern and eastern Iowa may have to wait until mid to late May for a good showing.

The lineup (left to right); 3 Black Morels, 1 Bigfoot Morel,
3 Common Morels, 3 Delicious Morels... well actually, they were
all delicious and we will be tasting them again very soon ;-)

Good luck and send me some Morel pictures!