USDA’s Joint Ag Weather Facility says on the Plains, cold air is arriving across northern areas. In parts of North Dakota, snow accompanies the colder weather, USDA says. “Farther south, rain is confined to portions of southern and eastern Texas,” USDA adds. Dry weather in the southern Plains’ major crop production areas favors fieldwork, including cotton, peanut, and sorghum harvesting and final winter wheat planting efforts, according to USDA.
In the West, USDA says dry weather prevails in advance of an approaching Pacific storm. “Cotton fieldwork remains roughly on schedule, with harvest 65% complete in California and 50% complete in Arizona,” USDA says.
In the Corn Belt, USDA says rain across the Ohio Valley is slowing late-season fieldwork, including corn and soybean harvesting. “By Nov. 13, Ohio’s corn harvest was just 51% complete, compared to the five-year average of 79%,” USDA explains. Ohio’s soybean harvest was 84% complete, versus the five-year average of 97%, USDA continues.
In the South, USDA reports showers are developing in advance of a cold front. “However, a final day of warm, dry weather in the southern Atlantic region favors winter wheat planting and cotton, peanut, and soybean harvesting,” USDA adds.
According to USDA’s outlook, a cold front stretching from New England to the Southern Plains will drift southeastward, allowing a brief shot of cool air to overspread the Plains, Midwest, South and East. “In addition, rainfall associated with the front could reach 1 to 3 inches from eastern Texas to the Mid-Atlantic states,” USDA continues. Mild weather will return to the South and East by week’s end, USDA says, but a stronger push of cold air will arrive across the northern Plains and much of the West. “Widespread rain and snow will precede and accompany the western cold blast, with late-week precipitation totals of greater than 2 inches expected in parts of the northern Rockies and the Pacific Northwest,” USDA says. During the weekend, USDA says snow will overspread the northern Plains and upper Midwest.
