Weather

Scattered rains across much of the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, a brief period of dry weather has largely ended. Currently, some of the heaviest showers are occurring in the eastern Corn Belt, where many of the most significant corn and soybean planting delays exist. On June 2, both corn and soybean planting were at least 40 percentage points behind the 5-year average pace in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, and South Dakota.

On the Plains, warm, mostly dry weather across the northern half of the region favors fieldwork and crop development. Meanwhile, scattered showers have returned across the southern Plains, maintaining pockets of unfavorable wetness. On June 2, topsoil moisture in Oklahoma was rated 40% surplus.

In the South, heavy showers are developing across the western Gulf Coast region in conjunction with a plume of tropical moisture. Meanwhile, dry weather persists in the southern Atlantic region, despite an increase in cloudiness. On June 2, more than one-quarter (28%) of Georgia’s pastures were rated very poor to poor.

In the West, scattered showers and cool conditions linger across the southern Rockies. Mild, mostly dry weather across the remainder of the West favors crop growth, although drought is a concern in parts of the Pacific Northwest. On June 2, topsoil moisture was rated 26% very short to short in Oregon.