USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says in the Corn Belt, frost and freeze warnings are in effect again this morning across the lower Great Lakes region, including Michigan and northern and eastern Ohio. Meanwhile, showers in the vicinity of a warm front extend across parts of Illinois and Indiana, USDA reports. “Warmth is building into the middle Mississippi Valley, helping to dry out soggy fields in the wake of a significant flood event,” USDA details.
In the West, USDA says a low-pressure system parked over the Desert Southwest is resulting in cool weather and out-of-season showers. “Unsettled, showery weather extends northeastward into the central and southern Rockies. In contrast, warm, dry weather in northern California and the Northwest favors fieldwork and crop development,” it explains.
On the Plains, USDA reports cloudiness is increasing in advance of an approaching storm system. In addition, rain showers are developing across the central High Plains, it continues. In the wake of the late-April storm, Kansas winter wheat rated very poor to poor increased from 16% to 27%, while wheat rated good to excellent declined from 49% to 43%, according to USDA.
In the South, USDA says dry weather is promoting fieldwork and crop growth. “In the mid-South, runoff from late-April and early-May downpours continues to drain from tributaries toward larger rivers,” the department elaborates. The Mississippi River crest is approaching New Madrid, Missouri, where water levels have been higher as recently as January 2016; April-May 2011; and March-April 2008, USDA explains.
In its five-day outlook, USDA says a slow-moving storm emerging from the Southwest will help to focus rainfall. As a result, five-day rainfall totals could reach 1 to 3 inches from the central and southern Rockies into t he Mid-Atlantic States. “Precipitation will be much lighter across the northern and southern tiers of the nation,” USDA adds. Late in the week, however, showery weather will return to the Pacific Northwest and the northern Rockies. Meanwhile, temperatures will exhibit considerable variation (e.g., warming trend in the Southwest and a cooling trend in the Southeast), although cool weather will be persistent across the lower Great Lakes region and the Northeast, according to USDA.
