Weather

Plains winter wheat in need of moisture

On the Plains, bitterly cold weather lingers along the Canadian border. Farther south, however, warmth is quickly returning to the central High Plains. Nearly all the hard red winter wheat crop is in desperate need of moisture. By November 25, one-quarter to two-thirds of the wheat was rated very poor to poor in South Dakota (64%), Nebraska (46%), Oklahoma (44%), Texas (40%), Colorado (34%), and Kansas (25%).

Across the Corn Belt, light snow is ending across the Ohio Valley. Cool, dry weather covers the remainder of the Midwest, where producers have largely completed harvest activities.

In the South, scattered showers stretch from the central Gulf Coast into the southern Appalachians. The rain has not reached the southern Atlantic coastal plain, where late-season fieldwork continues. On November 25, at least one-fifth of the cotton remained in the field in Georgia (79% harvested) and South Carolina (80% harvested). Meanwhile, cooler air is overspreading the western Gulf Coast region.

In the West, mild, dry weather favors late-season fieldwork. By November 25, the Arizona cotton harvest was 65% complete.