USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says in the Corn Belt, showers are confined to the upper Great Lakes region. Elsewhere, very warm, dry weather is ideal for developmentally delayed corn and soybeans, USDA notes. “On Sept. 17, corn was at least 15 percentage points behind the five-year state average maturation pace in Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and the Dakotas,” USDA details.
In the West, USDA reports frost and freeze warnings are in effect early today in several areas, including parts of the Great Basin. In addition, a mix of rain and snow is falling across portions of the northern Rockies and northern Intermountain West. “Prior to recent storminess, Spokane, Washington, did not receive measurable rain for 80 consecutive days from June 29 to Sept. 16 -- which broke the 1917 record (75 days),” USDA details.
On the Plains, late-season heat across most of the region continues to promote summer crop maturation and fieldwork, including harvest activities and winter wheat planting, according to USDA. However, cool air has engulfed the northern High Plains, accompanied by scattered showers, it adds.
In the South, warm, mostly dry weather continue to favor fieldwork and crop maturation, according to USDA.
USDA reports ecovery from Hurricanes Irma and Maria continue across Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, although locally heavy showers, pockets of flash flooding, and widespread power outages are disrupting clean-up efforts. “Meanwhile, a cold front continues to advance eastward across the Rockies and High Plains, forming a stark boundary between warm weather in the eastern half of the U.S. and chilly conditions in the West,” USDA continues. During the weekend, it says precipitation will subside across the Intermountain West and develop along an axis stretching from the southern High Plains into the upper Midwest. “Five-day precipitation totals could reach 2 to 5 inches from eastern New Mexico and western Texas into Minnesota,” USDA reports. Early next week, warmth will return to the Pacific Coast states, while cool air will shift eastward across the Plains, it continues. “Little or no rain will fall during the next five days across the eastern U.S.,” the department adds.
