Traverse City Record-Eagle

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  • Water droplets from Friday's rains sit on corn growing along County Road 616 in Leelanau County's Solon Township Friday. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

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  • Corn grows along County Road 633 in Leelanau County's Bingham Township Friday. Record-Eagle/Jan-Michael Stump

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July 28, 2012

Rain a big help for growers

By Bill O'Brien bobrien@record-eagle.com

TRAVERSE CITY — Much-needed rain doused northern Michigan's parched field crops, though some area growers hope for more.

Multiple weather systems over the past three days generated a wide range of rain totals across the region, varying from less than a half-inch north of the Traverse City area to several inches around Cadillac and Lake City.

"It sure helps," said Keith Parker, a Leelanau County corn farmer.

Parker's fields near M-72 west of Traverse City received almost four-tenths of an inch Friday, at least a temporary reprieve after a bone-dry July.

"Anytime you get some rain it helps a lot," Parker said. "If we get some more, that would be great."

Matt Breithaupt, a corn and soy bean grower near Buckley, saw more than 2.5 inches of rain Wednesday evening, when a line of sudden storms exploded near the county line between Grand Traverse and Wexford. Breithaupt's phone rang off the hook as neighbors called to congratulate each other over the unexpected downpour.

"It's amazing how some rain can bring people back to life when they've been looking at gloom and doom for a month," he said.

Rain fell in a hit-and-miss pattern across the area, National Weather Service Meteorologist Nick Schwartz said. A corridor between M-72 north to M-32 saw the lightest amounts, while areas north and south of there received significantly more.

"Some areas of northern Michigan are still hurting pretty badly for some rainfall," he said.

It won't come this weekend. Sunny skies are forecast for today and Sunday, and temperatures will stay at comfortable seasonable highs near 80 degrees. Another system will move in early next week, and with it the next chance for rain, he said.

Breithaupt and Parker said there's already been extensive drought damage, and some field crops won't bounce back. But their growing season looks better than it did a week ago.

"It's going to take about another month to see what's going to happen," Parker said.

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