USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says in the Corn Belt, very warm, humid weather prevails. Some of the hottest weather is occurring in the middle Mississippi Valley, where today’s high temperatures should approach 100°F, USDA details. “A band of thunderstorms stretching across the Midwest is helping to limit the impact of hot, humid conditions, although some of the rain has been heavy enough to cause local flooding,” according to USDA.
In the West, USDA says seasonal (monsoonal) showers remain active in portions of the Four Corners States and Wyoming. “In contrast, dry weather accompanies a warming trend from the Pacific Coast States into the Northwest,” USDA adds. In the Sierra Nevada foothills of Mariposa County, California, the destructive Detwiler fire has charred more than 70,000 acres of vegetation and has destroyed more than four dozen homes, the department details.
On the Plains, highly beneficial showers are heaviest across parts of South Dakota. “However, core drought areas of the Dakotas and Montana remain mostly dry,” it continues. On the latest U.S. Drought Monitor, dated July 18, exceptional drought appeared in parts of Montana and North Dakota for the first time in more than a decade, USDA elaborates. Farther south, extremely hot weather across the central and southern Plains continues to stress dryland crops, according to USDA.
In the South, USDA reports hot, humid weather is promoting a rapid crop development pace. “Southern soil moisture remains mostly adequate for crop and pasture growth, but the hot weather is locally boosting irrigation demands,” the department explains.
In its look for the next five days, USDA says over the next few days, a series of cold fronts will push across the Midwest and into the South and East. “Showers and locally severe thunderstorms will precede and accompany the frontal passages, resulting in 5-day rainfall totals that could reach 1 to 3 inches,” it elaborates. Farther west, however, only widely scattered showers will affect the High Plains, including drought-stricken sections of Montana and the Dakotas, USDA continues. “Mostly dry weather will also persist in the Pacific Coast States, but monsoon-related showers could result in flash flooding in the Southwest,” it reports. In the central and eastern U.S., heat and humidity will be gradually replaced by cooler conditions, while heat will intensify across California, the Great Basin, and the Northwest, USDA continues.
