USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says in the Corn Belt, dry weather accompanies a warming trend. “In the eastern Corn Belt, pastures continue to benefit from recent soil moisture improvements,” USDA reports. Meanwhile, crops are maturing rapidly, with corn harvest underway in all Midwestern states except Wisconsin, according to USDA. By Sept. 9, the corn harvest had passed the halfway mark (53%) in Missouri, and was nearly one-sixth (15%) complete nationally, USDA elaborates.
In the West, USDA says showers associated with a monsoon surge are primarily affecting parts of Arizona, Nevada, Utah and western Colorado. “The rain is slowing fieldwork but benefiting drought-stressed rangeland and pastures. Meanwhile in the Northwest, winter wheat planting is proceeding on schedule,” USDA adds.
On the Plains, USDA says cooler air is overspreading Montana. “Elsewhere, hot, mostly dry, breezy conditions are increasing the threat of wildfire activity and maintaining stress on rangeland and pastures,” USDA adds. On Sept. 9, nearly all (97%) of the rangeland and pastures were rated very poor to poor in Nebraska, according to USDA.
In the South, USDA reports dry weather favors summer crop maturation and harvest activities for crops such as corn, soybeans, cotton, peanuts, sorghum, and rice.
In its outlook, USDA says the interaction between a cold front and a late-season monsoon surge will result in widespread showers and thunderstorms during the next several days in the Southwest, the central and southern Plains and parts of the Midwest. “Showers will also develop in the Gulf Coast region, but dry weather will prevail through week’s end from the Pacific Coast to the northern Plains,” USDA adds. A brief cool spell will trail the cold front, but temperatures will quickly rebound to above-normal levels late in the week across the northern Plains and much of the West, according to USDA.
