(Radio Iowa) – Drought conditions are expected to expand across the region in 2022 and with — on average — mostly mild temperatures this winter, there is concern of another year ahead like 2012. That was a year of drought and extreme summer heat. Meteorologist Dennis Todey, director of the U-S-D-A’s Midwest Climate Hub in Ames, says there are similarities. “We are coming off La Ninas in two consecutive years. We did the same thing back in 2012. So, there’s that similarity,” Todey says. “There are other sea surface temperature differences that we note.”

Farmers shouldn’t start to worry too much, Todey says, as there are some contrasts as well between this year and a decade ago. “We had a very dry fall throughout parts of the Plains back in 2011 going into 2012, not quite as much in this time frame,” Todey says. “2012 really cranked up quickly by getting very warm and dry in the spring and right now we’re not necessarily seeing that same kind of crank-up yet.”

The Climate Prediction Center is forecasting above-normal temperatures and below-normal precipitation for the Northern Plains into early summer.