Weather

Beneficial rains across the Corn Belt

On the Plains, cool conditions prevail, following an extended period of warm weather. In addition, a chilly rain is falling on the central High Plains, while showers are gradually ending across eastern Kansas.

Across the Corn Belt, widespread showers and thunderstorms are slowing a previously rapid pace of fieldwork. Although recent rainfall has caused pockets of lowland flooding in several areas, including southeastern South Dakota and southern Minnesota, precipitation remains generally beneficial for emerging summer crops. Currently, rain has ended across the upper Midwest but continues farther south and east.

In the South, warm weather continues to promote winter wheat maturation and rapid summer crop growth. Showers and thunderstorms are moving into the Mid-South, curtailing fieldwork but moistening dry topsoils and benefiting recently planted summer crops.

In the West, precipitation is confined to the central Rockies, where late-season snow is falling. Cool, dry weather prevails across the remainder of the West, except for a return to warm conditions in the Pacific Coast States.