Cooler weather sweeps across Wisconsin

• Ice cold

Ice cold

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After the summer heat, it’s downright chilly in Wisconsin this morning. It was 30-degrees at six o’clock in Superior and Tomahawk.

Temperatures hit the freezing mark as far south as Sparta, and much of northern and central Wisconsin were in the 30’s while the Fox Valley and the south were in the 40’s. Frost advisories were in effect overnight for much of northwest Wisconsin – and that had folks covering up their most sensitive plants.

Forecasters say it will remain cool today, with a chance of showers in all of the Badger State except the west. Highs will only reach the low-60’s, and patchy frost is due to return tonight. It’s supposed to be warmer tomorrow, when central and southern Wisconsin are expected to get back into the 70’s.

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Less than a quarter of Wisconsin farm fields have adequate moisture as they’re about to wrap up their growing seasons. Officials said 44-percent of fields were short of moisture at the end of last week, despite scattered light rains. That’s a three-percent increase from the week before. About 40-percent of the Wisconsin corn crop is mature, higher than the normal 22-percent for this time of year. But 36-percent of the corn is rated poor-to-very-poor due to the summer-long drought – and just over a-third of the crop was rated good-to-excellent. Corn stalks are said to be drying down quickly – and many are said to be thin, or even hollow. Ear dropping has also been a problem. Meanwhile, two-percent of the Wisconsin soybean crop has been harvested, with varied yields of 5-to-50 bushels an acre. 27-percent of the beans are in poor shape, and 39-percent are good-or-excellent.

Tags: news, wisconsin, weather, agriculture