Weather

A cold morning in the upper Midwest

On the Plains, winter wheat planting remains behind the 5-year average pace in all seven of the region’s major production states. Progress is more than 10 percentage points behind the average in Colorado, Nebraska, and South Dakota. Meanwhile on the southern Plains, where topsoil moisture has improved in recent days—to the benefit of rangeland, pastures, and newly planted winter grains—a few thunderstorms persist.

Across the Corn Belt, rain is slowly ending across eastern portions of the region. During the last 24 hours, most of the Midwest has received some rain, although totals were generally less than an inch. In the rain’s wake, cool weather prevails. A freeze was noted early Tuesday across much of northern Minnesota, and Frost Advisories were in effect Tuesday morning for parts of the eastern Dakotas, southwestern Minnesota, and northwestern Iowa.

In the South, heavy rain is causing localized flooding in the Tennessee Valley and the central and southern Appalachians, where some Sep. 17-18 precipitation totals have already exceeded 4 inches. Currently, heavy rain is sweeping into the Southeast, halting fieldwork and causing flash flooding.

In the West, very warm weather prevails, except for some lingering coolness in the southern Rockies. Dry conditions are causing some producers to refrain from winter wheat planting, especially in Idaho and Oregon. Meanwhile, wheat planting has passed the halfway mark in Washington, and was 60% complete by Sep. 16.