Weather

Colder pattern grips the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, Freeze and Freeze Warnings are in effect across many production areas. Summer crops in the freeze-affected region are largely mature, but the cool weather is contributing to a slow return to fieldwork due to low evaporation rates. In addition, lowland flooding continues in parts of the upper Midwest, as water drains from creeks into larger rivers.

On the Plains, cool weather prevails. Scattered rain and snow showers are slowing fieldwork across parts of the northern Plains, while patches of light rain are occurring farther south. Across most of the nation’s mid-section, topsoil moisture is adequate for winter wheat germination and establishment. However, pockets of lowland flooding persist in an area broadly centered across the east-central Plains.

In the South, Tropical Storm Michael has departed the southern Mid-Atlantic States and is accelerating across the western Atlantic Ocean, although pockets of flooding linger. In hardest-hit areas of western Florida and environs, recovery efforts—including search-and-rescue operations—continue under favorable conditions.

In the West, cloudiness is increasing and a few showers are developing across Arizona and New Mexico in advance of Tropical Storm Sergio. Meanwhile, temperatures have rebounded to above-normal levels in northern California and parts of the Northwest, favoring the emergence of recently-planted winter grains.

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