USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says on the Plains, recent moderate to heavy rain (locally more than four inches over the past seven days) has provided much-needed moisture for pastures and upcoming winter wheat planting from central Texas into Oklahoma and Kansas. “Meanwhile, showers are favoring summer crops but hampering small grain harvesting in northern growing areas,” USDA adds.
“In the West, mostly dry weather is promoting crop development and fieldwork, although monsoon showers persist in the Southwest and Four Corners Region,” USDA says.
In the Corn Belt, drier weather in the Ohio Valley contrasts with increasing showers in western portions of the region, USDA reports. “Recent rain has stabilized crop prospects following periods of hot weather in July.” USDA adds.
“In the South, a weak cold front is generating showers and thunderstorms across Florida,” USDA says. Dry weather elsewhere is maintaining high levels of stress on pastures and summer crops. Southern and eastern portions of Texas have missed out on recent beneficial rainfall reported in other parts of the state, USDA reports.
In the outlook, USDA says showers and thunderstorms will accompany a weak cold front as it moves slowly from the northern High Plains into the central Plains, Corn Belt, and Great Lakes Region. “Meanwhile, locally heavy showers in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast will give way to drier weather as an upper-air disturbance shifts slowly offshore,” USDA says. Dry weather is expected across much of the south, USDA reports, although showers are possible in Florida and the northern Delta. “Monsoon showers are expected over the Four Corners, while mostly dry, increasingly hot weather prevails across the remainder of the west,” USDA explains.
