Weather

Near-ideal fieldwork weather across the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, above-normal temperatures, following more than a week of dry weather, are ideal for harvest of remaining corn and soybeans. Monday’s high temperatures could exceed 70°F in parts of the southern Corn Belt, including the middle Mississippi Valley.

On the Plains, slightly cooler air is overspreading the northwestern half of the region. In addition, a few rain showers are occurring in South Dakota and environs. Meanwhile on the southern Plains, dry, unusually warm weather favors fieldwork but continues to reduce soil moisture reserves for winter wheat establishment. Monday’s high temperatures will reach 80°F or higher across parts of western Texas and eastern New Mexico.

In the South, dry weather accompanies a warming trend, although scattered frost was noted Monday morning along and north of a line from central Louisiana to central Georgia. Except in areas of the southern Atlantic States where weekend rain occurred, fieldwork—including cotton, peanut, and soybean harvesting—is advancing at a rapid pace.

In the West, the latest round of Pacific storminess is approaching northern California and the Northwest. Early today, cool, dry weather across the interior Northwest contrasts with significantly above-normal temperatures in the Southwest.