We find ourselves in the midst of a very wet period here across the Eastern Corn Belt. Rain kicked off back early Monday morning, and we are not going to be done with rain here until after this coming weekend.

Rain in the first half of the week will have a slightly more northern bias. The front that is crossing the region here at midweek has been a nice equalizer. The rain for the last half of the week will have a more southern bias, before a weekend that brings rain back to nearly all parts of the region again.

The results will be that everyone sees more rain than they would like for the last week of February. The map shows the potential cumulative rain totals from Feb. 18 through midnight Feb. 25. Impressive. Here is how our forecast breaks down.

A very strong cold front moves across the region on Feb. 21. This cold front will bring heavy rain to 90 percent of the Eastern Corn Belt. We see half-inch to 2-inch rain totals, and thunderstorms will be what push the daily totals into the higher end of the range. Those thunderstorms and heavier rains were seen to start the day in northern and northwestern parts of the region, from northern Illinois across northwestern Indiana and into lower Michigan.

As the front pushes south and east, thunderstorms can re-fire on the evening of Feb. 21 in southern Indiana, southern Illinois, northern Kentucky and southwest Ohio, and run right on into Thursday morning.

Feb. 22 will be mostly dry over the area but scattered showers hold on into early afternoon near the Ohio River in far southern Indiana and in northern Kentucky.

On Feb. 23, we have another wave coming up from the southwest. This will bring rain storms of a half-inch to 2 inches to areas south of I-70, and a few hundredths to a quarter of an inch north of I-70. Far northern parts of Indiana, Illinois and southern Michigan may miss out on that system.

On Feb. 24, scattered showers are back with totals of a quarter-inch to a half-inch from US 24 southward, and a few hundredths to a quarter of an inch north. Coverage will be 80 percent.

On Feb. 25, rain totals of a half-inch to 2 1/2 inches will cover most of the southern half of the Eastern Corn Belt again, and scattered showers to the north have the potential of a quarter of an inch or so.

We finally get a dry day in areas east of the Mississippi River on Feb. 26. In fact, we should be dry for at least three straight days through Feb. 28, as high pressure works across the Eastern Corn Belt.

A strong system returns for the start of March pushing into March 2. This system brings rain again, with half-inch to 1 1/2 inch potential on the conservative side.

Late in the 11-16 day window we have a cold front that crosses the region but is part of a low that is centered farther north. That means we may miss the worst rain, but still can see up to a half-inch around March 6. The forecast pattern therefore can stay very wet with on through the first week of March.

Temperatures are mostly normal to above normal through the next 10 days, although we do cool down briefly on Feb. 22, and then again early next week behind strong cold fronts. But, the pattern does not show any significant cold air outbreaks through early March, meaning we expect mostly rain through the period.

Ryan Martin is Chief Meteorologist for Hoosier Ag Today, a licensed Commodity Trader and the Farmer Origination Specialist for Louis Dreyfus Company’s Claypool Indiana Soybean Crush Plant. The views and opinions expressed in the column are those of the author and not necessarily those of Farm World.