PEORIA, Ill. — Educational seminars will be a new addition to the long-running Greater Peoria Farm Show (GPFS), scheduled for Dec. 2-4 at the Peoria Civic Center.

Leading off the seminars for the 33rd GPFS will be Iowa State University professor of ag meteorology S. Elwynn Taylor. He has notched a distinguished career spanning more than four decades with the university and extension, racking up memberships in honorary and professional societies, awards and honors while publishing reams of technical guides and extension education publications and abstracts.

Taylor has also designed and directed implementation of the Iowa Crop Advisory Network – now known as ExNet – and helped implement a regular crop weather broadcast with Iowa Public Radio. He’s also produced an FFA course adopted for teaching computer applications in secondary schools throughout the Midwest, among other notable achievements.

“My current extension responsibilities include the general advising and education of the public about the nature of weather. When it comes to farms, my responsibilities include providing information on the impact of weather day-to-day, week-to-week and seasonally, on crop production and livestock well-being,” Taylor said.

The veteran ag meteorologist will focus on possible 2015 weather trends in his GPFS talk. “Of course, we’ll be looking at the weather outlook for 2015 and what we might expect that could impact agriculture. We’ll also touch on South America’s weather, because (growers there) are the main competitors of U.S. corn and soybean growers,” said Taylor, who will offer a single presentation in Peoria at 11 am on Dec. 2.

“We will also look at the possibility of the currently-developing El Nino. An El Nino for the Corn Belt and the Midwest usually results in a milder or closer to normal spring, and summer, if it were to continue. An El Nino in the Corn Belt usually represents a 70 percent chance of above-trend line yields for corn and soybeans. Conversely, a La Nina represents a 70 percent chance of below-trend line yields.”

Whether the weather will trend toward El Nino conditions will likely not become clear until next March, he predicts – hopefully in time for farmers to make final crop insurance decisions. “We don’t know if we will be having an El Nino at this time.”

The volatile, ever-changing weather marking the past few years has made the life of an ag meteorologist an active one, and kept Taylor in high demand on the commodity association and farm show speaking circuit.

“Elwynn Taylor has an absolutely phenomenal following at our Hawkeye Farm Show in Iowa,” said Ron Bormaster, GPFS show manager with FarmShows USA. “We thought he would be a great addition to the Peoria show.”

On the topic of volatile weather trends, Taylor doesn’t think it likely there will be a repeat of the harsh winter of 2013-14 this season, despite an arctic blast that’s swept through the Midwest during much of November.

“Most people recognize that what we used to call an arctic outbreak somehow became last year the polar vortex. We had last winter nine arctic outbreaks, or polar vortex events. The typical winter would have three and, a harsh winter, six. So, last winter was harsh and a half,” he noted, adding the recent blast of cold across the Midwest isn’t historically out of character for Mother Nature.

“The current (as of Nov. 20) cold outbreak came just about on the average date for the first cold outbreak from the Arctic. It was almost on schedule.”

Taylor will never forget events that occurred to farmers and ranchers just to the west of Iowa as a result of last year’s surge of arctic conditions. Tens of thousands of cattle froze to death, primarily in the Dakotas, from a double-whammy credited to the polar vortex.

“Typically (freezing of livestock) occurs when rain changes into freezing conditions. The animals are wet and much of their insulation is exposed, if they are outdoors. Sometimes the freezing conditions can happen quite rapidly, particularly west of Interstate 35 and east of the Rocky Mountains. Warm air from the mountains can produce a 40-degree temperature shift in a couple of hours,” he explained.

He hopes more farmers and ranchers in sensitive weather areas are embracing new technologies, such as smart phones that can deliver real-time weather alerts when conditions are likely to change.

“An alert can usually be given if conditions like (in the Dakotas) are going to happen, maybe even a couple of days in advance,” said Taylor.

In addition to his presentation, two seminars on agricultural applications for unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, are scheduled for 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 2 and 3. The seminars will be hosted by Chad Colby.

For more information on the GPFS, visit www.GreaterPeoriaFarmShow.com