Current Weather from Ag-Meteorologist Greg Soulje - Updated 7-23-08
On the Plains: Hot, dry weather across the southern half of the region favors summer crop development in areas with adequate soil moisture. Farther north, locally heavy showers in the Dakotas are aiding spring-sown small grains.
Across the Corn Belt: A bubble of mild, dry air covers most areas, promoting rapid corn and soybean development and maintaining generally favorable conditions for reproductive summer crops.
In the South: Hurricane Dolly is bearing down on the lower Rio Grande Valley. Early Wednesday morning, Dolly was centered 40 miles east of Brownsville, Texas, moving toward the northwest at 8 mph. Maximum sustained winds are near 95 mph. Rain squalls and wind gusts above 40 mph have already arrived in Deep South Texas, where vulnerable agricultural interests include citrus, sugarcane, and open-boll cotton. Elsewhere in the South, widely scattered showers and thunderstorms accompany slightly cooler weather, although many pastures and summer crops are still in need of rain.
In the West: A band of monsoon moisture stretches from Arizona into the central Rockies, accompanied by scattered showers. Dry weather prevails elsewhere, although cooler air is overspreading the Northwest.
Hurricane Dolly will make landfall later Thursday in Deep South Texas. Storm-total rainfall could reach 10 to 15 inches, while hurricane-force wind gusts and isolated tornadoes could damage citrus, cotton, and sugarcane.
Farther north, a slow-moving cold front will produce heavy rain (locally in excess of 4 inches) Thursday from the Mid-Atlantic States into the Northeast, and on Thursday in New England.
Elsewhere, a second front will generate rain across the northern Plains and eventually the Midwest, while monsoon showers will continue in the Southwest. Dry weather will continue through week’s end across the southern Plains and the West, excluding the Four Corners States.
Looking ahead, the 6- to 10-day outlook for July 28 – August 1 calls for below-normal temperatures east of the Mississippi River, while hotter-than-normal weather will prevail from the Plains westward, excluding the Four Corners region and the Pacific Northwest. Elsewhere, above-normal rainfall in the East and most areas from the Southwest to the northern Plains will contrast with drier-than-normal conditions in the northern Intermountain West and from Texas to the Great Lakes region.
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