Colder air has blasted into the region behind a cold front from early this week. This cold air means we are dealing with more of a “winter” feel to this week, so far, than a “spring” feel. That’s not too big of a deal, though, since it is still the first full week of March. In any case, that cold air is going to dominate for a good chunk of the rest of the week.

We are going to have to keep an eye out for light snow and flurries flying over a significant part of the region at midweek, with the best threats north of I-70 on March 7. Geographical coverage should be limited to about 60 percent of the region, and we do not expect any significant accumulation. However, but there will be flakes around off and on through all of March 7.

Temperatures will struggle to break the lower to middle 30s on March 7-8 over the northern half of the Eastern Corn Belt, and 40 can be a stretch down south. The map shows temperatures compared to normal at midday on March 8.

On March 8, we should see sunshine reappear; and on March 9, perhaps we can start to see temperatures moderate just a bit. However, we think that temperatures still do no better than normal for March 9 across the area. Southwest winds developing Friday afternoon will start to bring slightly warmer air up into Indiana.

On March 10, we see a system working by to the south. This will bring clouds to a large part of central Illinois, almost all of Indiana, and a large part of Ohio. Most of the thickest clouds will be from US 24 southward, and we will see rain from I-70 down into Kentucky. Rain totals will be roughly a quarter-inch to .33 tenths of an inch with nearly 100 percent coverage south of I-70 in Indiana and Illinois.

In Ohio, the clouds dominate, but the precipitation seems to break up a bit more for March 10, So there we may be only looking at a few hundredths to a quarter of an inch, with coverage more like 60 percent south of I-70.

But, Ohio does see a secondary surge of action in southeast parts of the state on March 11 that can bring up to half an inch. Still, at this time, the track of the system is more east than north, so we do not think that moisture lifts up into northern Indiana, northern Illinois, Michigan or northwestern Ohio.

Everything is gone in southern Indiana and Illinois by sunset Saturday night.

The rest of our 10-day window looks pretty dry and south winds moderate temperatures nicely. We see clouds over southern Indiana on March 11 (related to the secondary surge of moisture in Ohio mentioned above), but nothing up north, and then full sun and dry weather for next Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

High pressure will be in place at midweek next week, and should promote sunshine on into the second half of the week. The high may drop temperatures just a bit for midweek, as it looks to have Canadian origins. But still, it is a big pattern improvement over this week.

We do see a significant front in the extended period around March 17. The low passes by to the northwest, and that is where the heaviest precipitation will be (in the upper Midwest). But we still think we have to look for a quarter-inch to three-quarters of an inch rain potential across the Eastern Corn Belt.

We follow that up with another stronger storm complex for March 19 into March 20, where we could see more than one-inch of rain fall potential.

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.