Across the Corn Belt, mild weather prevails, following an unfavorably hot period during July and early August. Rain is overspreading the western Corn Belt, helping to stabilize corn and soybean yield potential.
On the Plains, parts of Texas are receiving much-needed moisture, although much more rain is needed to significantly dent the 10-month drought. Midland, Texas, received 0.37 inch of rain on August 11, following a 0.18-inch total during the preceding 314 days from October 1, 2010 – August 10, 2011. On the northern Plains, cool, showery weather is aiding corn and soybeans but hampering small grain harvesting.
In the South, widely scattered showers stretch from Texas to the southern Atlantic Coast. Unfavorably hot weather persists across the Deep South, but cooler air covers the interior Southeast.
In the West, chilly conditions persist along the Pacific Coast. Elsewhere, warm, dry weather continues to promote crop development and fieldwork, including Northwestern small grain harvesting.
A disorganized area of unsettled weather across the nation’s mid-section will shift eastward, reaching the Midwest and Mid-South on Saturday and the East on Sunday.
By early next week, a surge of monsoon moisture will bring a return of showery weather from the Southwest to parts of the Plains. Hot weather will precede the monsoon surge, with significantly above-normal temperatures expected on the High Plains during the weekend and early next week. In contrast, markedly cooler air will overspread the Far West, where mostly dry weather will prevail.
Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook calls for hotter- and drier-than-normal weather across the majority of the U.S. Below-normal temperatures will be confined to parts of the Southeast and areas along the Pacific Coast, while above-normal rainfall will be limited to scattered regions across the nation’s northern tier.