Bad Weather

Dan Agri View, Weather

bad weather above the white flowers fieldEverett Griner talks about bad weather of 2016 unusually hard on crops in today’s Agri View.


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From: USDA Office of the Chief Economist

Weather and Climate

Weather is one of the key factors affecting prospects for crop production and commodity prices. In 1978 the World Board and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration formed the Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (JAWF). Housed at USDA, JAWF monitors the weather and assesses its likely impact on crops around the world. Regular briefings by Board experts are an important information source for USDA commodity forecasters as well as for the Secretary of Agriculture and other top officials at the Department.

Daily U.S. Agricultural Weather Highlights (sign up for updates)

noaa-weather-satellite-imagAgricultural Weather Highlights – Friday – July 15, 2016

  • In the West, dry weather accompanies rising temperatures, favoring fieldwork and crop development. Despite the warming trend, cooler-than-normal conditions linger across the Northwest.
  • On the Plains, lingering heat has been relegated to southern and western Texas. Elsewhere, scattered showers and thunderstorms accompany below-normal temperatures. The rain is slowing the winter wheat harvest, especially in Nebraska, but providing beneficial moisture for spring-sown crops.
  • In the Corn Belt, cool weather prevails in the wake of a cold front’s passage. Rain showers are occurring in the upper Great Lakes region, while showers and thunderstorms are affecting the westernmost Corn Belt. Despite pockets of drought, overall growing conditions are mostly favorable for Midwestern corn and soybeans.
  • In the South, warm, humid conditions persist. Widely scattered showers are providing local relief from drought that generally stretches from northern and central Mississippi to the southern Appalachians.

Outlook: A strong ridge of high pressure will build over the Southwest before shifting eastward across the nation’s mid-section by early next week. Triple-digit temperatures will accompany the building ridge, with readings expected to top 100°F by next Tuesday on the Plains as far north as South Dakota. Heat will also begin to overspread the western Corn Belt. Prior to the ridge’s arrival, rainfall could total 1 to 2 inches, with locally higher amounts, across the nation’s mid-section. Similar totals will be scattered across the southern and eastern U.S. As the ridge shifts eastward, showers associated with the monsoon circulation should return to the Four Corners States. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for July 20 – 24 calls for above-normal temperatures nationwide, except for coolerthan-normal conditions in the Pacific Northwest. Meanwhile, near- to below-normal rainfall in much of the country will contrast will wetter-than-normal weather in southern sections of Texas and Florida, the upper Great Lakes region, and parts of the Southwest

Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin (sign up for updates)

Major World Crop Areas and Climate Profiles

Monthly World Agricultural Weather Highlights