As a powerful nor’easter moves up the East Coast, we see colder air diving back into our part of the world here for the second half of this week. Strong north winds will be seen at midweek here on March 21. These winds will trigger some wrap around snows in Ohio on the backside of the powerful low pressure system marching up through the Mid-Atlantic States and New England.

However, we do not think that any of this action is able to move into Indiana, so we are keeping the period dry at this time along with Michigan, Illinois and most of western Kentucky. Clouds will be around, and temperatures will be below normal.

That cool push continues through March 22, and temperatures moderate some by March 23 as south winds arrive ahead of the front.

That system moves in for March 24, and it is moisture laden. Rain totals will easily be quarter-inch to 1 inch over the entire region. Temperatures will be closer to and even a bit above normal as we have rain move in, which means we actually will be able to talk about a threat of thunderstorm on the afternoon and evening of March 24. The best chance of seeing any thunderstorms across central Illinois and central Indiana on Saturday will be after 4 p.m. and going up through sunset.

Those areas will be where we see the best chance of hitting the upper end of our rain range. All rain will be done by the morning of March 25. The map shows a snapshot of potential precipitation for the afternoon of March 24.

Weather will be dry for March 25-27. A strong front will come together to the West for March 26 and into March 27, but it slows and stalls over Illinois Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Models are unsure how to move it at midweek next week, as a strong high pressure dome looks to block movement of the system eastward.

There is moisture potential in that front of a quarter-inch to 1 inch, which we do realize in parts of Illinois, and it could hit all of the rest of the Eastern Corn Belt, as well. But, it comes down to track and movement.

Here is what we mean: if the front stalls for more than 24 hours, likely over Illinois and eastern Missouri or Iowa, that would put way too much rain over areas to our west, but could also rain the storm out before it finally gets here.

We think that this storm will likely pick up the pace and move right in for March 28, and we like the quarter-inch to 1 inch rain storms spreading over the rest of the region for midweek next week, with a dry finish eventually for March 29 midday through March 30.

The rest of our forecast includes a system for Easter weekend on March 31 and April 1, bringing a quarter-inch or three-quarters of an inch rain potential to 70 percent of Indiana.

Temperatures, while chilly again for the balance of this week, look to move to normal and slightly above normal levels for next week and into early April.

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.