Weather

Record-setting warmth on the Plains

On the Plains, dry weather accompanies record-setting warmth. Tuesday’s high temperatures will approach 90°F on the southern Plains. The warm weather is promoting rapid winter wheat growth, but increasing stress in areas—such as the southern High Plains—where inadequate soil moisture reserves exist.

Across the Corn Belt, warm, dry weather prevails. Across the southern and eastern Corn Belt, soft red winter wheat is developing rapidly under a regime of above-normal temperatures and abundant soil moisture.

In the South, localized lowland flooding persists in Louisiana. Farther east, scattered rain showers dot the southern Atlantic States, although Florida’s peninsula remains extremely dry. In Georgia, 69% of the peaches were blooming on March 11, compared to the 5-year average of 23%.

In the West, precipitation has spread as far inland as the northern Rockies and as far south as northern California. Precipitation is especially beneficial in northern California, where high-elevation snow packs are only about one-third of the mid-March normal. Cool weather accompanies the Pacific Northwestern storminess.