Insect Alert For

Corn Earworm

Risk Level:
Moderate Risk Level
Affected Area:
Full page
Alert Details

A favorable weather pattern for corn earworm migration will remain in place especially west of Lake Michigan and the Illinois/Indiana border into early next week. Moderate risks are in place each day through early next week as at least scattered moth flights will remain possible in conjunction with an increasingly dominating southwest flow pattern. Low pressure systems are predicted to continue developing and moving northeast through the Plains and into the western reaches of the upper Midwest while high pressure remains anchored over the southeast United States. In between these two pressure centers will be a persistent southwest wind flow that may transport corn earworm moths north from near the I-40 corridor from the Texas panhandle east into Arkansas. Moderate risks are predicted tonight into tomorrow morning mainly across Kansas, far southeast Nebraska, the southeastern half of Iowa, Missouri, and western Illinois. Low risks extend up to near I-90 and into southwest Michigan and Indiana. The Moderate risk area is pushed a little further south tomorrow night into Saturday morning as a weak front may move far enough south to keep southerly winds more confined to the southern Midwest to the south of I-80. A new low pressure system is predicted to develop in the Plains and move northeast by the weekend and early next week. Southerly winds may have an opportunity to push further north into Minnesota and Wisconsin by Saturday night, and a Moderate risk is extended into those states and points southwest by that time. Moderate risks continue through early next week until a cold front passes through the Midwest sometime by mid-week. Growers are urged to continue to monitor fields and traps for new moths and take appropriate action especially in those fields at susceptible stages to damage.