Weather

Producers continue to monitor fruit crops for signs of freeze injury

On the Plains, winter wheat development and spring fieldwork activities remain well ahead of the normal pace. However, developing showers are curtailing fieldwork in some areas. Despite some overnight rainfall on the southern High Plains, drought remains a significant concern.

Across the Corn Belt, freeze warnings are in effect again Monday morning. A high-pressure system currently centered over Illinois and Indiana has resulted in clear, cool, near calm conditions across much of the Midwest. Producers continue to monitor fruit crops for signs of freeze injury, while there is less concern for winter wheat due to the stage of development and for corn due to minimal Midwestern emergence.

In the South, cool, dry weather prevails. Early Monday, widespread, generally light freezes in Kentucky and Tennessee may have threatened some fruit crops, headed winter wheat, and emerged corn. Most of the remainder of the South appears to have escaped with minimal impacts from the cool spell.

In the West, scattered showers cover northern California and the Intermountain region. Some of the heaviest rain and snow showers are occurring in northern California, where spring precipitation is slowing fieldwork but has improved water-supply prospects.