Wheat Harvest. Racing the Thunderstorms!

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Found this farmer harvesting his wheat south of Cassoday, Kansas, this evening.
The combine cuts the head off the stalk and ejects the chaff. You can see the line of thunderstorms we've been forecasting (scroll down) in the background. About 2" of rain is forecast for the area from late tonight through Sunday night, not to mention the potential for hailstorms which could destroy any wheat still to be harvested.

The combine off-loads the wheat into a waiting truck which takes it either for farm storage or, more likely, to a grain elevator which will handle the transaction of selling the wheat to an end user and paying the farmer.

Just to the south, the sun slipped behind the line of thunderstorms as a hawk patrols El Dorado Lake.


Update: As of 8:45am, that area received 1.5 inches of rain. An additional two inches is forecast from now until Monday morning. The wheat harvest is halted until the rain moves out and the fields dry. 

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