Weather
Drier weather, moderating temperatures across the Corn Belt
Across the Corn Belt, rain lingers across southernmost areas, including parts of Missouri and southern Illinois. Elsewhere, dry weather accompanies a gradual warming trend. On July 5, corn was rated more than 80% good to excellent in Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin, but less than 50% good to excellent in Indiana and Ohio.
On the Plains, cool weather and scattered showers continue from Kansas southward. Meanwhile, warm weather is expanding eastward across the northern Plains. Drought has begun to expand eastward across Montana, hastening winter wheat maturation but increasing stress on spring-sown small grains.
In the South, very warm, mostly dry weather favors fieldwork and crop development. However, pockets of drought persist in Alabama and the southern Atlantic States.
In the West, lingering heat is confined to Washington, northern Idaho, and western Montana. Spring-sown crops across the interior Northwest are suffering from the effects of drought and record-setting heat. Farther south, mostly beneficial showers dot the central and southern Rockies and the northern Intermountain West.
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