Weather

A few storms; heat, humidity across the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, scattered showers—primarily from the Mississippi Valley eastward—are benefiting corn and soybeans. In contrast, hot, dry weather covers the southwestern Corn Belt, including Nebraska, where Monday’s high temperatures will locally exceed 100°F. On August 1, more than 60% of the corn was rated in good to excellent condition in all major production states except Minnesota and the Dakotas.

On the Plains, blazing hot weather prevails from Nebraska southward, where Monday’s high temperatures will approach, reach, or exceed 100°F. The central and southern Plains’ heat, combined with short-term dryness, has reduced topsoil moisture and increased stress on immature summer crops. Meanwhile, markedly cooler air is overspreading the northern High Plains, accompanied by widely scattered showers that are providing only limited drought relief. Monday’s maximum temperatures may not reach 70°F in parts of Montana.

In the South, very warm, mostly dry weather prevails. Overall growing conditions remain mostly favorable for pastures and summer crops; on August 1, at least three-quarters of the pastures were rated in good to excellent condition in Alabama, Florida, and South Carolina.

In the West, any showers are limited to southeastern Arizona. Meanwhile in northern California, the Dixie Fire has destroyed more than 500 structures and has scorched well over 460,000 acres of vegetation, becoming the second-largest wildfire in modern state history. Only last year’s August Complex, which charred 1.03 million acres, was larger.