Weather

Brownfield Ag Weather Today

The National Hurricane Center forecasts Francine to make landfall late Wednesday in southern Louisiana as a category 1 or 2 hurricane.  A storm surge of 4 to 10 feet can be expected along and to the east of where Francine moves ashore, an area that includes Lake Pontchartrain.  In the central Gulf Coast region, Francine should result in 4- to 8-inch rainfall totals, with locally higher amounts, leading to flash flooding and urban flooding.  Significant damage from hurricane-force winds, 74 mph or greater, may occur in Francine’s eyewall during and immediately after landfall, with tropical storm-force winds (39 to 73 mph) spreading well inland.  Crops in the path of Francine include southern Louisiana’s sugarcane, for which harvest has not yet begun; cotton, the majority of which has open bolls; and row crops such as rice and soybeans.  Much of the remainder of the country—including large sections of the Plains and Midwest—will experience dry weather during the next 5 days, favoring fieldwork and summer crop maturation.  In the Northwest, however, a cold front will generate some rain and high-elevation snow, with precipitation spreading as far east as the northern High Plains.  The front’s passage will largely end a late-season Western hot spell, although triple-digit (100-degree) temperatures will linger in parts of the Desert Southwest.