USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says in the Corn Belt, showers are limited to the southern tier of the region, including southern sections of Illinois and Missouri. “Elsewhere, dry weather favors planting activities and other fieldwork, except in areas of the eastern Corn Belt still grappling with cool soils and lingering wetness,” USDA continues.
In the West, USDA reports cool, showery weather is pushing farther inland across the Pacific Northwest and northern Rockies. “Cool weather is also returning to California, although dry weather favors fieldwork,” it adds. Dry weather prevails in the Southwest, following recent, out-of-season showers, USDA continues.
On the Plains, USDA reports rain and pockets of lowland flooding persist across eastern Oklahoma and southeastern Kansas. “Meanwhile, expanding warmth continues to promote fieldwork across the northern Plains, where today’s high temperatures could approach 90°F as far north as eastern Montana,” it details.
In the South, USDA says a low-pressure system centered over Arkansas continues to spark widespread showers and thunderstorms. Currently, some of the heaviest rain is sweeping across the lower Mississippi Valley, the department elaborates. Rain in the mid-South is prolonging fieldwork delays and perpetuating lowland flooding. “In contrast, unfavorably dry weather persists across the lower Southeast, including much of Florida’s peninsula,” USDA continues.
In its five-day outlook, USDA says a storm system currently centered over the mid-South will drift northeastward, maintaining unsettled, showery weather along its path. “As a result, parts of the mid-South could receive an additional inch of rain, while locally 1 to 3 inches may fall in the Atlantic Coast states,” USDA explains. During the weekend and early next week, the focus for significant precipitation (locally 1 to 2 inches) will shift to the Northwest — and eventually the northern Plains and upper Midwest, according to the department. As the Northwestern storminess shifts eastward, cool air will engulf the western U.S., while warmth will expand across the central and eastern U.S., it continues.
