Picture-perfect November weather for the Heartland


Weather

Picture-perfect November weather for the Heartland

Across the Corn Belt, warm, dry weather continues to promote late-season corn and soybean harvest efforts. By November 1, the soybean harvest was at least 90% complete in all Midwestern States except Missouri (60% harvested), Ohio (77%), Michigan (79%), and Indiana (87%). Midwestern warmth is also favorable for winter wheat establishment.

On the Plains, unusually warm weather favors winter wheat development and harvest activities for crops such as cotton, sorghum, and sunflowers. The U.S. sorghum harvest was 82% complete by November 1, compared to the 5-year average of 71%. Similarly, 61% of the sunflowers had been harvested on that date, versus the 5-year average of 54%. Near-record-setting warmth prevails on much of the Plains, where Friday’s high temperatures will range from 70 to 80° in all except areas near the Canadian-border.

In the South, warm weather is replacing previously cool conditions. Producers are also benefiting from dry weather, which follows a spate of late-summer and autumn storms (e.g. Tropical Storm Beta and Hurricanes Laura, Sally, Delta, and Zeta). In Louisiana, the sugarcane harvest was 33% complete by November 1, slightly behind last year’s pace (36% complete on that date) and the 5-year average of 35%.

In the West, scattered showers are confined to the Pacific West, including coastal California. Elsewhere, warm, dry weather is ideal for autumn fieldwork, including cotton harvesting in Arizona and the remainder of California. However, most of the West continues to experience drought. The season ended with 43% of the nation’s rangeland and pastures rated in very poor to poor condition, with Western statewide values as high as 86% very poor to poor in Oregon and 71% in Wyoming.

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published.


*