Weather
Drier, but colder across most of the Heartland
In the Corn Belt, rain showers are ending early Thursday across the Ohio Valley and the lower Great Lakes region, where some corn and soybeans remain to be harvested. Elsewhere, cool but mostly dry weather has returned in the wake of a cold front’s passage. Any snow showers are limited to areas downwind of the Great Lakes. Thursday’s high temperatures will range from 30°F or below in the upper Great Lakes region to near 50°F in the Ohio Valley.
On the Plains, cool, dry weather is limiting further winter wheat development. Thursday morning’s low temperatures dipped below 10°F as far south as western Nebraska. Meanwhile, breezy conditions linger, especially in the Dakotas. Poor winter wheat establishment due to drought remains a concern in several areas, mainly on the High Plains. On November 14, more than one-third of the wheat was rated in very poor to poor condition in Montana (42%) and Texas (38%).
In the South, locally heavy showers are overspreading Florida’s peninsula. A separate area of rain, in the vicinity of a cold front, extends southwestward from the Ohio Valley. In areas where warm, dry weather continues, producers are harvesting crops such as cotton, peanuts, and soybeans, and planting winter wheat and cover crops.
In the West, showers are returning across the Pacific Northwest, following a short reprieve. Near-coastal locations such as Astoria, Oregon, and Quillayute, Washington, noted measurable rain on each of the first 16 days of the month, followed by a dry day on November 17. Meanwhile, warm, dry weather prevails from central and southern California to the Four Corners region, heightening concerns that La Niña-driven drought will intensify in the nation’s southwestern quadrant.
