Rain hasn't fallen on most parts of northern Michigan in the past three weeks...but an area farmer says the dry spell is exactly what the corn crop needs.
BUCKLEY -- For Frank Lipinski, growing corn has been his livelihood for more than 50 years. So the recent dry spell across northern Michigan is something he's smiling about.
"Corn is the big concern so the hot and dry is really what we're hoping for to advance the maturity of the corn," says Lipinski.
To give you an idea of just how dry it's been over the past month, 7&4's Storm Team says the major cities in the region have had no rain at all with the exception of Sault Saint Marie.
Most areas are running on an inch and a half to two inches below normal for the month or 0% of rainfall with Sault Saint Marie with only 3%.
Although these areas have seen little or no rain at all, Lipinski says when it comes to corn, that's exactly what's needed to get the crop back on track.
"Cloudy and rainy is the exact opposite of what we need right now. We need this extended warm spell with lots of sunshine to dry this crop down," says Lipinski.
Lipinski says the crop is at least two weeks behind schedule this year, which means the hot and dry weather is not only ideal but necessary to preserve the crop.
"Anything to hurry the maturity along because we've lacked though heat units during the summer...It's doing what we call grain fill, kernel fill and that's evident by denting in this one ear. But nine out of 10 are like this in the field so we need to hurry this crop along," says Lipinski.
If the warm weather moves out the area in the next few weeks and cold weather or even frost moves in, that could create some financial concerns.
"If a large part of the corn belt gets an early frost which could happen in the next 10 days that could be the difference between $3 per bushel corn or $5 per bushel corn which would affect all consumers because of the many products that are created from corn," says Lipinski.
The 7&4 Storm Team says rain isn't expected in the forecast until next Monday. Lipinski says if the rain holds off until then it will at least provide some time for the corn crop to mature- and eventually the rain will create needed moisture.
