Weather

Late-season heat returns to much of the Corn Belt

On the Plains, beneficial but widely scattered showers continue across roughly the southern half of the region. Farther north, cooler air is beginning to overspread Montana’s High Plains, but hot, mostly dry weather favors late-season small grain harvesting and other fieldwork elsewhere on the northern Plains.

Across the Corn Belt, isolated showers are confined to the upper Midwest. Elsewhere, late-season heat is bringing renewed stress to pastures and immature summer crops, following a 2-week period of favorably cooler weather.

In the South, scattered showers linger along the southern Atlantic Coast and are developing in the western Gulf Coast region. Elsewhere, warm, dry weather favors late-summer fieldwork, including corn and rice harvesting.

In the West, an active monsoon circulation is resulting in scattered showers, mainly in the Four Corners States. Cooler air is overspreading the Northwest, although a significant threat of wildfire development or expansion still exists in parts of the northern Intermountain West.