Weather

Cool, largely dry weather covers the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, cool but mostly dry weather prevails. Tuesday morning’s minimum temperatures dipped as low as 25° in the far upper Midwest, where a few snow showers are occurring. On April 11, Missouri led the Midwest with 8% of its intended corn acreage planted, followed by Illinois at 5%.

On the Plains, light snow showers in parts of Montana and North Dakota are providing negligible relief from extremely dry conditions. North Dakota led the Plains on April 11 with topsoil moisture rated 83% very short to short. Very dry conditions also exist across much of Texas (topsoil moisture is rated 77% very short to short), although a few showers are occurring early Tuesday in the northeastern part of the state. Among major winter wheat production states on April 11, Texas led the country with 36% of its crop rated in very poor to poor condition.

In the South, showers and a few thunderstorms are mainly spreading across areas from the Mississippi Delta westward. Meanwhile in the Southeast, generally warm, dry weather favors fieldwork and crop development. Fruit producers in South Carolina report 45% of the peach crop rated in very poor to poor condition, following the freezes of April 2-3.

In the West, mostly dry, occasionally breezy weather accompanies lingering cool conditions. Northwestern producers continue to monitor potential impacts of recent freezes on blooming fruit crops. Meanwhile, Washington led the nation (among major production states) on April 11 with one-half of its spring wheat and 39% of its barley planted.