TAGS: Marketing, Overseas
December 18, 2014
USDA's Joint Ag Weather Facility says in the Corn Belt, a record-shattering heat wave continues to trim yield prospects for reproductive corn and soybeans across drought-affected southern and eastern portions of the region. "In addition, heat is spreading into the upper Midwest, where some corn is beginning to silk and some soybeans have begun to bloom," USDA adds.
In the West, USDA says more than four dozen large wildfires continue to burn from Arizona and New Mexico northward into Montana. "Mostly above-normal temperatures prevail in the West, except along the Pacific Coast," USDA reports.
On the Plains, USDA says relatively cool conditions in Texas contrast with above-normal temperatures farther north. "Today's high temperatures will exceed 100°F on the central High Plains, where the ongoing heat wave continues to stress both rain-fed and irrigated summer crops," USDA explains.
In the South, USDA says beneficial showers are providing very localized and limited relief from record-setting heat. "On Sunday, all-time records were set or tied in Southeastern locations such as Chattanooga, Tennessee (107°F), and Greenville-Spartanburg, South Carolina (107°F)," USDA reports. Triple-digit temperatures can be expected again today in much of the Southeast, where reproductive summer crops continue to wither, according to USDA.
In its outlook, USDA says a historic, early-season heat wave will persist for the remainder of the week in many areas from the central Plains into the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern states. "High temperatures will regularly approach, reach or exceed 100°F in the heat-affected regions," USDA elaborates. In addition, heat will briefly spread across the northern Plains and the upper Midwest, USDA adds. "During the next five days, some of the most significant rain will fall in the north-central U.S., where 1- to 3-inch totals may occur," USDA explains. Meanwhile, USDA says scattered, locally severe thundershowers will dot the East. "Farther west, the development of monsoon showers may aid wildfire containment efforts in the central Rockies and the Four Corners states," USDA explains.