Weather
Storms, heat & humidity on the Plains
Across the Corn Belt, hot, dry weather prevails, except for cooler conditions and scattered thunderstorms across the upper Midwest. Tuesday’s high temperature should approach or reach 95° in the middle Mississippi Valley. Meanwhile, pockets of unfavorable dryness persist in the western and central Corn Belt. In Iowa, for example, statewide topsoil moisture was rated 51% very short to short on July 16.
On the Plains, overnight thunderstorms across the northern half of the region provided much-needed rainfall but caused local wind and hail damage. Prior to the rainfall, on July 16, topsoil moisture was rated 88% very short to short in Montana, along with 85% in South Dakota and 65% in Nebraska and North Dakota. Currently, cooler air has arrived in Montana and the Dakotas, but hot weather persists from Nebraska southward.
In the South, locally heavy showers linger along the Gulf Coast and in the southern Atlantic region. Hot, humid weather covers the remainder of the South, promoting a rapid crop development pace.
In the West, the monsoon circulation remains active, with showers extending northeastward from Arizona and western New Mexico. Flash flooding remains a threat, especially in northern Arizona. In contrast, hot, dry, breezy weather prevails in parts of California and the Northwest, hampering wildfire containment efforts.
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