Weather

Largely favorable weather across the Corn Belt

Across the Corn Belt, cool but favorably dry weather prevails, except for some snow showers in the upper Great Lakes region. Still, many upper Midwestern fields are saturated and may not be able to support harvest equipment until soils freeze. On October 14, topsoil moisture was rated 60% surplus in Iowa and 42% surplus in Minnesota and Wisconsin.

On the Plains, flooding remains a threat in central Texas, where rain continues to fall. Chilly conditions linger in most areas of the nation’s mid-section, but warmth is returning across the northern High Plains. Fieldwork delays are common due to the aftereffects of a series of moisture-laden storms.

In the South, warm, dry weather continues in hurricane recovery areas of Florida, Georgia, and Alabama. In Georgia—even with one-fifth of the cotton harvested when Hurricane Michael hit—more than one-half (54%) of the cotton was rated in very poor to poor condition on October 14, up from 9% the previous week. Elsewhere, widely scattered showers stretch from the Carolinas to central Texas.

In the West, scattered rain and high-elevation snow showers continue in the Four Corners States. Meanwhile, dry weather and above-normal temperatures prevail in northern California and the Northwest. Despite recent precipitation, topsoil moisture ranged from one-half to three-quarters very short to short on October 14 in California (75% very short to short), Oregon (66%), Washington (57%), Wyoming (54%), and Nevada (50%).

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