Weather

Heat once again begins to build on the Plains

On the Plains, heat is building across the northern half of the region, where Thursday’s highs will approach or reach 100°. On the northern High Plains, the hot weather is promoting winter wheat maturation but stressing spring-sown small grains. Elsewhere, unfavorably dry weather has returned to the southern Plains.

Across the Corn Belt, showers are confined to the far upper Midwest, including the eastern Dakotas. Elsewhere, the Midwest’s worst drought since 1988 continues to expand and intensify—and temperatures are returning to near- or above-normal levels—maintaining severe stress on corn and soybeans.

In the South, rain continues to ease drought, although dry weather has returned to the northwestern corner of the region (e.g. Arkansas). Currently, the heaviest rain is falling from the western Gulf Coast region northeastward into central and eastern Tennessee.

In the West, monsoon showers are confined to the Desert Southwest. Hot weather prevails elsewhere, except in the southern Rockies and along the Pacific Coast. In the Northwest, heat is promoting fieldwork, summer crop development, and winter wheat maturation.