USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility (JAWF) says a frost advisory is in effect early today for northeastern North Dakota and adjacent areas in northern Minnesota. In most other areas of the nation’s mid-section, cool, dry weather favors fieldwork. However, a few showers and thunderstorms stretch from the southern High Plains into eastern Kansas.
In the Corn Belt, JAWF says a weakening cold front stretches from the lower Great Lakes region into the middle Mississippi Valley, accompanied by a few showers. “Meanwhile, cool but favorably dry weather is overspreading the upper Midwest, where Minnesota’s topsoil moisture was rated 34% surplus on September 11,” it states.
In the West, a developing storm system over the northern Intermountain region is resulting in cool, showery weather and providing some areas with beneficial moisture in preparation for winter wheat planting, states JAWF. Elsewhere, a warming trend has commenced in the Pacific Northwest , while cool, dry weather prevails in the Southwest.
In the South, Tropical Storm Julia unexpectedly formed last night near Jacksonville, Florida , and is drifting northward, says JAWF. “At 8 am EDT, Julia was centered just inland, about 10 miles west of Brunswick, Georgia. Winds to tropical-storm force (39 mph or greater) are primarily confined to coastal waters northeast of Julia’s center. Elsewhere in the South, late-season warmth and dry conditions are promoting crop maturation and harvesting,” it states.
In its outlook, JAWF says Julia will likely be a short-lived tropical storm due to land interaction and unfavorable upper-level winds. “Nevertheless, additional rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches or more can be expected, especially along the South Carolina coast. Farther west, a weakening cold front will move through the Northeast and stall across the South, while a robust storm system will emerge from the northern Intermountain West before crossing the northern Plains and upper Midwest on September 15-16,” it states. “Five-day rainfall could total an inch or more across portions of the northern Plains and upper Midwest , and reach 1 to 3 inches from the central and southern Plains into the middle Mississippi Valley. Parts of the Northeast could also receive more than an inch of rain, while late-week showers will overspread the Northwest.”
