Area farmers take advantage of sunny Saturday

Farmers in the northern Red River Valley took advantage of a sunny day Saturday to get in some field work before the weather possibly turns in the coming days.

Farmers were seen working the soggy fields Saturday, and beet trucks were on the highways heading to and from the region's sugar factories.

Saturday temperatures reached into the mid-50s, accompanied by sunshine and cloudless skies. It was a vastly different scenario than most of the previous two weeks, which have seen unprecedented precipitation in the form of rain and snow.

The forecast calls for another day in the 50s Sunday, Oct. 20, with cloudy skies. But rain is expected to begin moving into the region possibly by Sunday evening, with a 60% chance of rain and winds on Monday.

As of Oct. 14, there were approximately 272,000 acres of the sugar beets unharvested in the region.

1/2: A tracked-tractor and a tracked-sugar beet cart are employed in the harvest Saturday at Thorson Farms south of East Grand Forks. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald

2/2: Sugar beet trucks pass each other on their way to and from the Crookston American Crystal factory on Saturday as the harvest resumes after recent wet conditions. Photo by Eric Hylden/Grand Forks Herald