Weather
Warmer winds on the Plains
On the Plains, sharply warmer weather has replaced Thursday’s brief cold spell, with Friday’s high temperatures expected to average 15 to 30° above normal. The warmth is accelerating winter wheat emergence but increasing soil moisture losses in recently-dry growing areas from eastern Colorado and western Kansas southward into the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles.
Across the Corn Belt, mostly dry, warm conditions are promoting seasonal fieldwork and winter wheat emergence. Despite localized dryness in the central Corn Belt, most Midwestern wheat areas have favorable soil moisture.
In the South, warm, dry weather in the Gulf and Atlantic Coast States is promoting summer crop harvesting and winter grain planting. However, intensifying drought across the interior Southeast is in sharp contrast to lingering lowland and river flooding in the eastern Carolinas following Hurricane Matthew’s intense rainfall.
In the West, locally heavy rain, mountain snow, and strong winds are accompanying the first in a series of cold-season storms from northern California into the northern Rockies and Pacific Northwest. The rain and high-elevation snow are boosting moisture supplies for recently-sown winter wheat and improving reservoir levels.
Forecast High Temperatures (National)
Add Comment