Two Rain Events To Benefit Southern Argentina Dry Area
By Andrew Owen
Kansas City, December 17 (World Weather Inc.) – Portions of Buenos Aires and La Pampa in southern Argentina dried down in recent days due to a lack of rainfall and seasonably warm temperatures. Soil conditions were becoming too dry to support the 
best crop conditions prior to rain evolving overnight. Additional rain is needed to reverse the drying trend and bolster soil moisture for long term crop development potentials. Showers and thunderstorms developed in the region Wednesday and will linger today with one more opportunity for rain expected at mid-week next week. There may be one more weather system Dec 26-27, but it is too far out in time to have high confidence in the model-predicted event. If all three weather events occur as advertised the dryness will either be wiped out or greatly eased leaving crop production potentials rated favorably. Other production areas in Argentina are in mostly good shape due to timely rain in the past week. Central and northern portions of the country will continue to receive frequent rain through next Wednesday.
The wettest areas in Argentina during the past week were in Corrientes, northern Entre Rios, northern and central Santa Fe, Chaco, and Formosa. Rain totals for the seven-day period ending Wednesday 
morning ranged from 2.32 to 5.75 inches. Santiago del Estero, Cordoba, southern Santa Fe, and portions of northern and central La Pampa and Buenos Aires reported 0.55 to 1.38 inches of rain with local amounts up to 1.85 inches. The remaining portions of La Pampa, Buenos Aires, and southern Entre Rios reported little or no rain of significance. However with that said, overnight rainfall last night reached 1.89 inches in east-central La Pampa and varied from 0.25 to 1.14 inches from southern and north-central Buenos Aires to San Luis including most of La Pampa and western Buenos Aires.
Soil moisture Wednesday was slightly short in much of Buenos Aires and La Pampa, but the rain overnight has likely bolstered the topsoil in parts of the region shrinking the dry region down to portions of Buenos Aires for a little while. None of the dryness in southern Argentina had reached a critical level and crop conditions were still rated favorably, despite the drier bias. The overnight rain and that which will impact Buenos Aires today will further ease dryness. Two other rain events in the coming ten days may contribute to the greater moisture situation and leave most of the nation in favorable shape for ongoing crop development.
Western and northern Santiago del Estero also has a slight shortage of moisture. The remaining production areas in central and northern Argentina have adequate to excessive soil moisture. Corrientes, Formosa, Chaco, northern Entre Rios and northern and central Santa Fe are all abundantly wet in the topsoil. Fieldwork may have been slowed at times during the past week due to the wet conditions.
The recent lack of rain was beneficial for aggressive winter wheat harvesting. The next ten days of weather will leave Argentina crops in very good shape due to periodic rainfall and seasonably warm temperatures.
Summer crop conditions in central and northern Argentina are in mostly good shape. The excessively wet conditions this past week may have slowed crop development and general fieldwork in the past week, although no major quality changes were suspected. As long as timely rain and warm weather continue in coming weeks, summer crop development conditions will be remain favorable and production potentials will also remain high.
A band of showers and thunderstorms will advance across central and eastern Argentina today providing rain for many areas that did not receive it Wednesday or early this morning. . Additional rainfall today will vary up to 0.50 inch with locally more near the port of Buenos Aires. Much of the rain that falls today will be lost to evaporation over the course of the weekend and beginning of next week. The next opportunity for rain will be Tuesday through Thursday December 22 – 25. This rain event could produce enough precipitation to bolster soil moisture back to adequate levels across southern Argentina. There is low confidence for the amount of rain that will fall due to the event being far out in the forecast. A close monitoring of the situation is warranted. Until then, crop establishment and development conditions will remain less than favorable across southern Argentina. Winter wheat harvesting should advance with few issues outside of today’s rainfall and that of mid-week next week.
Central and northern Argentina will see a good mix of rain and sunshine during the next seven to ten days. The periods of rain will help keep soil moisture rated favorably while the dry periods help firm up the topsoil in the wettest areas. Crop development will continue under mostly favorable conditions.
Temperatures will trend near to above average across Argentina and the warm conditions coupled with favorable soil moisture should be .beneficial for crop growth and development.
World Weather, Inc. forecasts and comments pertaining to present, past and future weather conditions included in this report constitute the corporation’s judgment as of the date of this report and are subject to change without notice. Comments regarding damage or the impact of weather on agricultural and energy as well as comments made regarding the impact of weather on the commodity and financial markets are the explicit opinions of World Weather, Inc. World Weather, Inc. can not be held responsible for decisions made by users of the Corporation’s information in any business, trade or investment decision.
©2015 World Weather, Inc. Any unauthorized redistribution, duplication or disclosure is prohibited by law and will result in prosecution.