Weather

A wide-spectrum of summer weather covers the Nation

Across the Corn Belt, mild, dry weather prevails.  Air quality has greatly improved from earlier in the week, with Canadian wildfire smoke currently positioned to the north and northwest.  For parts of the eastern Corn Belt, mainly across Ohio, Indiana, and Michigan, Thursday’s strong thunderstorms resulted in straight-line wind damage.  However, the storms  also delivered beneficial rain for reproductive corn and soybeans. 

On the Plains, overnight thunderstorms produced heavy rain, high winds, and local flooding in parts of Colorado, Kansas, and northern Oklahoma.  Dry weather covers the remainder of the region.  Blazing heat persists in much of Texas, while temperatures are rising to above-normal levels across the northern Plains.  The increasingly hot, mostly dry weather on the northern Plains favors winter wheat harvesting and is hastening the maturation of spring-sown small grains. 

In the South, hot, humid weather is resulting in potentially dangerous conditions for humans, livestock, and poultry.  Friday’s high temperatures will approach or reach 100°F from the western Gulf Coast region to the Mississippi Delta.  Similar temperatures can be expected in parts of northern Florida and southern Georgia.  Early Friday, thundershowers in the Tennessee Valley and environs are providing limited relief from the heat. 

In the West, a ferocious heat wave continues in the Desert Southwest, where Phoenix, Arizona, is expecting a record-shattering 22nd consecutive day with a maximum temperature of 110°F or higher.  Hot, dry weather extends across the remainder of the region, excluding the central Rockies.  Across the interior Northwest, temperatures locally above 100°F are promoting harvesting of winter wheat and maturation of summer crops, including barley and spring wheat.