Weather

Pleasant summer weather across the Corn Belt; welcome rains for parts of the Plains

Across the Corn Belt, cool, dry weather favors summer crops that are in the reproductive to filling stage of development.  On August 4, nearly one-half (46%) of the U.S. corn had reached the dough stage, while 59% of the soybeans were setting pods.  Later Friday, Midwestern high temperatures should range from near 65°F in the upper Great Lakes region to 85°F  in the Ohio Valley.

On the Plains, rain is benefiting rangeland, pastures, and immature summer crops in several areas, primarily from the northern panhandle of Texas into southern Nebraska.  In the rainy areas, Friday’s high temperatures should generally range from 65 to 80°F.  Any lingering heat is confined to Texas (excluding the northern panhandle), although temperatures have slightly fallen from record-setting levels earlier in the week.

In the South, the remnants of Debby are moving northward through the middle Atlantic States, with slowly diminishing impacts to the south.  At 5 am EDT Friday, Post-Tropical Cyclone Debby was centered over Virginia, moving toward the north-northeast at 35 mph.  There is residual lowland flooding from northeastern Florida into parts of the eastern Carolinas, with the Tar River at Louisburg, North Carolina, running about 3.2 feet below the September 1999 high-water mark.

In the West, an active Southwestern monsoon circulation is resulting in widespread cloudiness and scattered showers, mainly in the Four Corners States.  However, parts of the Northwest remain at risk for new or expanding wildfires, amid a very warm, dry regime that is also favorable for small grain maturation and harvesting.