Weather
A mild first day of Winter for most of the Heartland
Across the Corn Belt, a disturbance is producing some light snow, mainly in the upper Great Lakes region. Elsewhere, cloudy but mild weather favors farm maintenance activities, especially in drier areas of the western Corn Belt.
On the Plains, mild weather prevails. Monday’s high temperatures should reach or exceed 70° in much of Texas, except across the northern panhandle. The snow that fell about a week ago across parts of the central and southern Plains has melted, while the northern Plains remain devoid of snow. Overall conditions are favorable for off-season fieldwork and farm maintenance, but many winter wheat production areas remain unfavorably dry.
In the South, lingering rain showers along the southern Atlantic Coast are yielding to dry weather. Most of the region still has adequate to locally excessive soil moisture, but a few spots have begun to dry out. Among the driest areas over the last few weeks have been Deep South Texas and parts of the northern Mississippi Delta.
In the West, storm systems continue to move ashore along the northern Pacific Coast, but the remainder of the region is experiencing mild, dry weather. Despite last week’s spotty precipitation, drought continues to tighten its grip on a broad area stretching from California to the central and southern Rockies.
