Wet weather across the eastern, southern Corn Belt

Weather

Wet weather across the eastern, southern Corn Belt

Across the Corn Belt, a strong albeit slow-moving cold front is producing moderate to heavy showers over central and eastern portions of the region, while breezy, dry, chilly conditions settle over the upper Midwest. The recent and ongoing showers are slowing corn and soybean harvesting but maintaining overall favorable topsoil moisture for winter wheat establishment, though varying degrees of mostly long-term drought persist from Iowa and northern Illinois northward.

On the Plains, a few light showers have developed over central portions of the region, while cold, dry, windy weather prevails elsewhere. In spite of recent rainfall, long-term drought remains entrenched over the entire region, though much of Kansas remains drought free.

In the South, dry, very warm weather continues to facilitate a rapid pace of summer crop maturation and harvesting. However, pockets of pronounced short-term dryness have developed from the eastern Carolinas northward into the Chesapeake Bay watershed.

In the West, mostly dry weather prevails except for some lingering rain and mountain snow showers in the Pacific Northwest. Producers and land-use managers are awaiting the onset of cool-season rain and mountain snow (2021-22 Water Year), which typically begin in late October and November; as of October 12, nearly 92% of the region was in Moderate Drought (D1) or greater, as depicted by the latest U.S. Drought Monitor.

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