Weather

More record-setting warmth on the Plains

On the Plains, record-setting warmth prevails, especially across northern and central areas. Later Friday, much of the region will experience highs above 80°. Rain is needed on the southern High Plains to ease stress on pastures and winter grains, and moisture will soon be needed on the northern Plains.

Across the Corn Belt, scattered showers are mostly confined to the Ohio Valley. Meanwhile, phenomenal early-season warmth continues to promote an extremely rapid pace of soft red winter wheat development.

In the South, warm, dry weather prevails, except for some thundershowers across interior portions of the region. Development of crops such as fruits and winter wheat remains far ahead of schedule. Meanwhile, irrigation demands remain heavy across Florida’s drought-affected peninsula.

In the West, the latest in a series of Pacific storms is producing widespread rain and snow showers in northern California and the Northwest. In advance of the storminess, mild, breezy conditions prevail across the central and southern Rockies and the Southwest.