Weather

Scattered rains continue to favor parts of the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, a surge of cool air is arriving across the upper Midwest, accompanied by a few showers. In parts of the central and eastern Corn Belt, late-planted, late-developing corn and soybeans are experiencing varying degrees of stress due to dry, compacted topsoil and poorly developed root systems. On August 4, one-fifth to one-quarter of the corn was rated very poor to poor in Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Missouri, and Ohio.

On the Plains, locally heavy showers and thunderstorms are developing Wednesday morning in parts of Kansas and Nebraska. However, hot, dry weather on the southern High Plains continues to stress rangeland, pastures, and rain-fed summer crops. On August 4, topsoil moisture was rated 73% very short to sort in Texas.

In the South, warm, humid weather accompanies isolated showers and thunderstorms. On August 4, more than two-thirds of the U.S. rice (68%) and peanuts (69%) were rated in good to excellent condition. However, a few pockets of drought still exist in the Southeast, where Georgia’s topsoil moisture was rated 52% very short to short on August 4.

In the West, hot, dry weather prevails, aside from cool conditions along the Pacific Coast and isolated showers in the Southwest. Dry weather in the Northwest favors small grain maturation and harvesting, although topsoil moisture shortages exist in Oregon (66% very short to short) and Washington (52% very short to short).