Weather

Cooler air continues to flow through the heartland

Slightly cooler air is moving across the Corn Belt as a dry cold front currently stretches southwest from the Great Lakes region. High temperatures across the Upper Midwest later Tuesday will generally be between 65 and 75°F. Meanwhile, warm, humid and cloudy conditions continue in the Ohio Valley. Three-quarters of the U.S. corn crop was fully mature as of Sept. 29, compared to the five-year average of 70%, with recent warmth in the Midwest helping to accelerate crop development.

Dry weather persists in the plains, although temperatures have fallen from previously record-breaking levels. In fact, light frosts were observed as far south as western Nebraska this morning. The pervasive drought favors the ripening of summer crops and field work, including harvesting activities and winter wheat cultivation. However, in Oklahoma, only 22% of planned winter wheat acreage was planted as of Sept. 29, well below the five-year average of 32%, in part because producers have refrained from planting in parched soils . Near the end of September, topsoil moisture, classified as very short to short, ranged from 62 to 69% in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and South Dakota.

In the south, mostly cloudy, humid weather will prevail in areas where reconstruction efforts are underway after hurricanes and floods. However, the persistent rain is largely limited to the mid-Atlantic states and the Florida peninsula. Helene saw significant deteriorations in crop condition: As of September 29, Georgia's cotton was rated at 33% good to excellent and 25% very poor to poor, compared to scores of 59 and 11%, respectively, the previous week.

In the West, persistently cool weather in the northern half of the region contrasts with well-above-normal temperatures from California to the central and southern Rockies. Across the West, dry weather is conducive to field work, including cotton harvesting in Arizona, rice harvesting in California and winter wheat growing in the Northwest.