USDA's Joint Ag Weather Facility says on the Plains, isolated showers and thunderstorms are heaviest in the Dakotas. "On the northern Plains, winter and spring wheat are benefiting from recent soil moisture improvements," USDA reports. Farther south, heat has become a concern in drought-affected areas of the southern High Plains with respect to winter wheat and emerging summer crops, according to USDA. "Today's high temperatures in western Texas will approach 100°F," USDA adds.

In the West, USDA says chilly weather continues to limit crop growth across California and the Northwest. "In addition, scattered showers are slowing Northwestern fieldwork," USDA reports.

In the Corn Belt, USDA says showers and thunderstorms are slowing a previously torrid pace of corn and early-season soybean planting. "However, the rain is providing highly beneficial moisture for emerging summer crops," USDA explains. A very warm weather pattern prevails across the southern Corn Belt, where today's highs will approach 90°F, according to USDA.

In the South, USDA says scattered showers dot the southern Appalachians and neighboring areas. "Elsewhere, warm weather continues to promote a very quick pace of fieldwork, winter wheat maturation, and summer crop emergence and development," USDA explains.

USDA's outlook says during the next several days, there will be a gradual reversal of temperature patterns across the U.S. "By the middle of next week, near- to below-normal temperatures will prevail from the Plains to the East Coast, while warmth will arrive in the West," USDA reports. Meanwhile, USDA says frequent showers and thunderstorms will continue across the northern and eastern U.S. "Five-day rainfall totals could reach 2 to 4 inches, with locally higher amounts, from the northern Plains into the Midwest and interior Southeast," USDA adds. In contrast, dry weather will prevail from California into the Southwest, according to USDA.

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