Weather

Easy-going weather across the Corn Belt; scattered rains on the southern Plains

Across the Corn Belt, cool, dry weather prevails.  Below-normal temperatures (highs of 85°F or below) are benefiting summer crops in the filling stage of development, although patchy drought remains a concern, especially in the western Corn Belt.  Nationally, 16% of the corn was rated in very poor to poor condition on August 14, along with 12% of the soybeans.

On the Plains, lingering extreme heat (high temperatures of 100°F or greater) is limited to central and eastern Texas.  However, hot weather also prevails along and near the Canadian border, favoring small grain maturation and harvesting.  In parts of Montana, Wednesday’s high temperatures could reach 95°F.  Elsewhere, scattered showers accompany a cold front sagging southward across the southern Plains.

In the South, lingering heat and high humidity levels are confined to the Deep South, from eastern Texas to Florida.  Wednesday’s high temperatures should again exceed 100°F in parts of eastern Texas and northwestern Louisiana.  Meanwhile, cooler air and scattered showers continue to encroach from the north; early Wednesday, some of the heaviest rain is falling in Arkansas and northern Mississippi.

In the West, a late-summer heat wave prevails across much of California, the Great Basin, and the Northwest.  Wednesday’s high temperatures could approach 110°F as far north as California’s Sacramento Valley.  In addition, lightning-sparked wildfires could become a concern later Wednesday in northern California, southern Oregon, and northwestern Nevada.  Elsewhere, the Southwestern flash-flood threat continues amid locally heavy showers.