Drier Bias To Continue For Northern Argentina
By Andrew Owen
Kansas City, January 12 (World Weather Inc.) – Portions of northern and eastern Argentina trended dry or mostly dry in the past week. The lack of rain was welcome in the northeast where abundant precipitation fell earlier in the growing season. Cotton and other crops produced in northern 
Argentina will develop under more favorable conditions as long as no excessive rainfall returns. The dry bias will continue during the coming week in the north. Some precipitation will be needed later in January to keep the ground from trending too dry.
Areas from San Luis and western and southern Cordoba through La Pampa and the western half of Buenos Aires reported the greatest amount of rain during the past week. Rain totals for the seven-day period ending Tuesday morning ranged from 1.00 to 3.35 inches with a local total of 4.45 inches at Laboulaye, Cordoba – located in the far southeast of the province. Western Santiago del Estero, outside the main crop production region, reported 0.80 to 4.00 inches of rain. Portions of eastern Chaco and southeastern Formosa received up to 1.45 inches of rain while much of the remainder of Argentina was dry or mostly dry and warm.
The topsoil firmed in much of Argentina outside the 
southwest corner during the past week due to the lack of rain and often warm weather. Highest temperatures were in the upper 80s and 90s Fahrenheit, which promoted aggressive drying. Topsoil moisture is adequate in the north and adequate to excessive in southern Cordoba and neighboring areas. Topsoil moisture is short elsewhere. However, crop development will continue favorably in many areas because of continued subsoil moisture abundance and the prospects for rain in this coming week.
Northeastern Argentina reported excessive rainfall in November and December that often promoted flooding. Fieldwork was slowed or delayed at times and minor crop damage may have occurred in the wettest locations. Chaco and neighboring areas produce much of the cotton in Argentina and the region also produces a minor amount of grain and oilseed crops. Last week’s drying tendency promoted a better 
environment for many of these crops after being too wet earlier in the season.
Portions of Cordoba, northwestern Buenos Aires, northern La Pampa and San Luis became a little too wet for a while this past week. However, it will not take long for the soil to dry down once again. Other areas in central and southern Argentina would benefit from some timely rainfall in the next two weeks, although subsoil moisture is more than sufficient to carry on normal crop development for a while.
Northern and east-central Argentina will trend mostly dry during the next seven days. Any rain that falls will be rapidly lost to evaporation. A second week of mostly dry weather will further firm the topsoil, but subsoil moisture will remain sufficient to carry on normal crop development. Rain will be needed in the third and fourth weeks of the forecast to prevent some areas from becoming too dry. A favorable crop development environment will prevail this week, despite some additional net drying and the odds are relatively high that timely rain will resume January 19-26.
Southern and western Argentina will see a mixture of light rain and sunshine during the coming week favoring continued fine summer crop development rates. Much of the region will see soil moisture remain near today’s levels.
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