Weather
Mid-winter “look & feel” dominates the Heartland
Across the Corn Belt, weather conditions are slowly improving across the upper Midwest, following Thursday’s winter storm. On February 4, snowfall topped 5 inches and winds gusted to at least 40 mph in locations such as Dubuque, Iowa, and La Crosse, Wisconsin, stressing livestock and rendering travel difficult across a broad area. Very cold weather and gusty winds trail the storm, with Friday morning’s low temperatures falling below 0° in parts of Minnesota and the Dakotas.
On the Plains, snow is overspreading Montana’s High Plains, providing winter wheat with much-needed moisture and insulation in advance of some of the coldest air of the season. Farther east, Friday morning’s low temperatures plunged below 0° in parts of the Dakotas, accompanied by gusty winds. Dry weather covers the remainder of the Plains.
In the South, producers across portions of Florida’s peninsula are assessing impacts from Thursday’s light freeze, which is not believed to have resulted in significant injury to vegetables and other sensitive winter crops. Currently, rain showers associated with a cold front are sweeping across the lower Southeast, from the Carolinas to western Florida.
In the West, dry weather prevails, aside from some snow in the northern Rockies and a few showers in the Pacific Northwest. Despite some late-January storminess, drought covers 79.7% of the 11-state Western region, according to the latest (February 2) U.S. Drought Monitor. Exceptional Drought (D4) is affecting 70% of Utah and 54% of Arizona and New Mexico. There is also D4 coverage in Nevada (29%), Colorado (25%), Texas (5%), and California (4%).
