Weather

Winter Wheat Planting Delayed on Much of the Plains

On the Plains, widespread soil moisture shortages are delaying winter wheat planting, with severe to exceptional drought firmly entrenched from South Dakota and Wyoming into Texas. However, recent showers have improved soil moisture on the southern Plains, benefiting rangeland, pastures, and newly-planted winter grains.

Across the Corn Belt, cool, drier weather has settled over the region in the wake of recent beneficial rainfall. However, a disturbance is triggering scattered showers in the upper Midwest, although the rain is generally light.

In the South, dry weather is allowing the flooding in the Tennessee Valley and the central and southern Appalachians to subside. Currently, showers linger in Florida, where yesterday’s cold front has stalled, while seasonably cool conditions have settled over the remainder of the region.

In the West, late-summer heat and dryness prevail. The dry conditions are causing some producers to refrain from winter wheat planting, especially in Idaho and Oregon.