Lots of Water Means Wet Fields

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. (WTHI) - Farmland lies idle as farmers wait for enough drying to allow them in the fields. Some fields still hold standing water, while others are simply mud.

Just walking through a field shows how muddy the land still is. A tractor weighing several tons wouldn't have a chance in conditions like this.

Typically, January through April, we should have accumulated almost 10.97 inches of liquid precipitation.

For example, if you take two ball jars. Each jar can hold water up to six inches deep.
But, this year has been exceptional for rainfall.

In order to give you an idea about how much rain we've had, we need to top off the second jar.

Add another six inches and then another six inches, a total of two more jars.

Even all these jars don't hold the water we've received, we have to add another 2.21 inches to what we already have.

This January through April produced more than 26 inches of rain. That's more than half the average rainfall total for an entire year.

Farmers I've talked to say they're not worried yet. One told me if this was July and the fields weren't planted, then he'd be worried.

The general consensus is that there is still time to get the crops in and have a good growing season.

As soon as these wet fields dry out, you can be sure farmers will be working full time to get their crops in.