ST. LOUIS – Some might say our winter weather is a bit inconvenient, but for our area farmers, it’s actually more beneficial than you think–especially when it comes to the spring growing season.
The wrath of winter on both sides of the river made its presence known in January and February. We’ll remember the start of 2025 building arm muscle digging our cars out of several inches of snow.
Farmers, however, say any snow during the winter is a welcome sight.
“Snow in the wintertime is important because one of the things that it does is insulate the ground to some degree so. We do have some wheatfields where when you insulate that wheat with snow and get the extreme cold, the heat can’t escape the ground nor does the ground freeze because the snow insulates it,” farmer David Schumacher, and former farmer broadcaster at KTRS, said.
When the snow thaws, it efficiently adds moisture back into the ground, which is what farmers are hoping to rebuild going into the spring of 2025.
“The thing about snow is it soaks in much better than a hard rain. A three-inch rain is going to end up in the creek, where that snow just slowly works its way through,” Schumacher added.
The spring growing season looks to be good as of right now, he noted. But it’s up to the forecast as to when it all can happen.
“A lot of it comes down to not so much what happens when you plant it, it’s what happens once you plant it. You get it planted, and it doesn’t rain for four months, it doesn’t matter what you did. On the other hand, you get it planted, you catch a few showers you’re up and going, life is good,” he said.
Our area farmers rely on accurate forecasts for the spring growing season. But adjusting to our ever-changing weather patterns can be tricky and requires a lot of patience.
“You just have to have that patience to let it develop in front of you and say, ‘All right now, we’re there. The ground is 60 degrees. The forecast for two weeks says no weather or no rain. Let’s get it done. Let’s get started,'” Schumacher said. “You’re going to get started and in two days get shut right back down if it rains or whatever the case may be. There’s really no formula to it.”
While the forecast is heavily relied on, it’s all about timing and knowing when the right time is.
“We put a whole lot of faith in you guys, as meteorologists, and sometimes it doesn’t always work out the best for you or for us. I’ve heard before that the weather in the Midwest is probably some of the hardest weather to forecast just because we’re on that line where systems go north, south, it can go around us, but it just comes down to when things feel right. You just got to plant when the time feels right and hope it all works out,” Schumacher added.