Weather
Seasonal August pattern across the Heartland
Across the Corn Belt, warm, mostly dry weather favors corn and soybean development. Friday’s Midwestern maximum temperatures should range from 85 to 90°F, except in the upper Midwest where cooler conditions and widely scattered showers are arriving. Some drought-affected summer crops in the western Corn Belt are benefiting from late-summer rainfall; others—including dented corn—are too mature to be aided by the change in upper Midwestern weather.
On the Plains, heat is building across the southeastern half of the region, despite isolated showers. Friday’s high temperatures will approach 100°F as far north as eastern Kansas. In contrast, cool, showery weather prevails on the northern Plains. Friday’s high temperatures will remain below 70°F on the northern High Plains, where cool, rainy weather has arrived too late for most drought-stricken summer crops.
In the South, unsettled, showery weather lingers in several regions, including the Mississippi Delta and portions of the southern Atlantic States. In other areas, including the western Gulf Coast region, hot, dry weather favors fieldwork, including rice harvesting.
In the West, drought-easing precipitation has ended across the Intermountain region, although a few showers linger across the northern Rockies. The threat of new Western wildfire ignitions has diminished, despite ongoing dry weather in the Great Basin and Pacific Coast States. However, several existing wildfires continue to exhibit erratic and potentially dangerous behavior; the nation’s largest blaze—northern California’s Dixie Fire—has consumed nearly 700,000 acres.
