Weather

Recent storminess winds-down on the central Plains; showery across the eastern Corn Belt

Across the Corn Belt, cool, showery, breezy conditions prevail across the upper Midwest, while warmth lingers in the Ohio Valley.  Monday’s Midwestern high temperatures will range from near 45°F in northern Minnesota to 80°F or higher in parts of Ohio.  In advance of a cold front, showers are spreading into the eastern Corn Belt.  Elsewhere, recovery efforts continue in areas of the western Corn Belt—mainly in Iowa, Missouri, and Nebraska—battered by tornadoes on April 2627, with locally catastrophic damage reported in communities such as Elkhorn, Nebraska, and Minden, Iowa.

On the Plains, dry weather prevails in the wake of weekend storminess, except for lingering showers in the Dakotas.  In recent days, isolated tornadoes struck the Plains from Nebraska southward, devastating several towns and resulting in at least four tornado-related fatalities in Oklahoma.  Despite the recent storminess, patchy dryness on the Plains continues to adversely affect a portion of the winter wheat crop.

In the South, showers and thunderstorms stretch from the middle Mississippi Valley to the upper coast of Texas.  Although the threat of severe weather is diminishing, some thunderstorms are still producing heavy rain and sparking flash flooding.  Meanwhile, warm, dry Southeastern weather is promoting fieldwork, including corn, cotton, peanut, rice, and soybean planting, as well as pasture growth and winter wheat development.

In the West, widely scattered showers extend inland from the Pacific Northwest to the northern Rockies.  In addition, cool weather is slowing the emergence and growth of recently planted Northwestern summer crops.  Elsewhere, dry weather from California eastward favors spring fieldwork, including planting activities.