Iowa soil getting chillier | Des Moines Register Staff Blogs

Farmers know that soil temperatures should be at least 50 degrees, and preferably closer to 60 degrees, before they put corn seeds into the ground.

But the recent cold snap has sent soil temperatures in the wrong direction, according to Iowa State University’s daily soil map.

For instance, Kossuth County in northern Iowa showed a soil temperature of 42 degrees on Sunday. By Tuesday, when the county was being covered by snowfall, the subsoil temperature had fallen to 37 degrees.