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The month of March in Illinois was 4-5 degrees warmer and 1-2 inches lower in precipitation than normal. At Champaign, 170 growing degree days (GDD) accumulated in March, and less than 2 inches of rain fell from March 10 through the end of the month. The dry weather had fields in some places dry enough to work and plant around the middle of March,…

The transition from March to April brought very active weather in Illinois. Average temperatures this week ranged from the low 40s in northern Illinois to the low 60s in southern Illinois, between 2 and 8 degrees above normal. March ended between 2 and 4 degrees warmer than normal as well, which helped accelerate bloom and leafoutacross the state.
The big story this week, though, was the active storm track that brought multiple rounds – and multiple types – of severe weather across the state.…

Insect trapping season is here!  We are still looking for cooperators to monitor both black cutworm and true armyworm traps in April and May. These early spring storms have already brought black cutworm moths north. We’d love to get some more traps out and are especially needing cooperators in southern and northern Illinois. Traps and lures are provided.

Requirements for trapping:

• Set up traps provided.
• Check traps regularly. Ideally, we’d like traps to be checked every other day to help accurately identify significant moth flights,

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Our last full week of March had very March-like weather, with average temperatures ranging from the high 30s in far northern Illinois to the low 50s in far southern Illinois, right around normal for this time of the year. March to date average temperatures have been 3 to 6 degrees warmer than normal; a top 10 warmest March on record so far for much of northern Illinois.
Another round of storms brought modest precipitation totals across the state this week,…