Hot weather covers much of the Nation

Weather

Hot weather covers much of the Nation

Across the Corn Belt, scattered showers and thunderstorms are confined to the upper Great Lakes region.  Slightly cooler air is arriving in the upper Midwest, but the remainder of the Corn Belt is experiencing hot, dry weather, which is sapping topsoil moisture.  On June 20, daily-record high temperatures included 101°F in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and 100°F in Sisseton, South Dakota.

On the Plains, hot weather across much of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas favors winter wheat harvesting but is maintaining stress on rain-fed summer crops.  In contrast, cool, breezy conditions across the northern Plains have replaced previously hot conditions.  Tuesday’s high temperatures will range from near 70°F in parts of Montana to 100°F   or higher in central and eastern Texas.

In the South, hot, mostly dry weather is increasing stress on reproductive summer crops, including silking corn.  Like Monday, when daily-record high temperatures in eastern Texas reached 102°F in Houston and 101°F in Victoria, some of Tuesday’s hottest weather will cover the western Gulf Coast region.

In the West, an early-onset monsoon circulation is contributing to locally heavy showers in the southern Rockies.  In New Mexico, the plume of moisture could lead to flash flooding, especially on hillsides recently burned by record-setting wildfires.  Meanwhile, hot weather is developing in parts of the Far West, including California’s Central Valley.

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