Weather

Clear, cold weather across the Midwest

On the Plains, a substantial snow cover in Montana is providing winter wheat with beneficial moisture—and helped to insulate the crop from recent sub-zero temperatures. However, the cold weather is also increasing stress on the northern Plains’ livestock. Elsewhere, a patchy snow cover exists as far south as northern and western Nebraska, but unfavorably dry conditions persist across the central and southern Plains.

Across the Corn Belt, cloudiness lingers in the lower Great Lakes region, but clear, cold weather covers the remainder of the Midwest. However, wet fields are hampering late-season corn and soybean harvest efforts, mainly in the eastern Corn Belt.

In the South, a few showers linger in the southern Mid-Atlantic region. Elsewhere, cool, dry weather follows a period of generally light rain showers. Fieldwork activities include winter wheat planting and cotton, peanut, and soybean harvesting.

In the West, light rain and snow showers are confined to the Northwest. Elsewhere, dry weather accompanies a gradual warming trend, promoting fieldwork activities such as cotton harvesting in Arizona and California.