USDA/OCE/WAOB, Agricultural Weather Highlights – Tuesday - May 29, 2012
In the West, dry weather aompanies near- to below-normal temperatures, except for a few showers in the northern Rockies. Crop development remains mostly behind the normal pace in California and the Northwest.
On the Plains, hot weather lingers across southern portions of the region. In contrast, cool weather prevails across the northern and central Plains. For the fifth consecutive morning, pockets of frost and temperatures near the freezing mark (32°F) were noted on the northern High Plains.
In the Corn Belt, a cold front is edging across the Ohio Valley and the lower Great Lakes region, producing beneficial showers and thunderstorms. In recent weeks, dryness has become a concern in much of the central and eastern Corn Belt.
In the South, Tropical Depression Beryl is currently centered inland near Valdosta, Georgia, drifting toward the north. Beryl moved inland as a tropical storm just after midnight on Memorial Day, May 28, near Jacksonville Beach, Florida. Beryl continues to produce drought-easing rainfall, especially in southeastern Georgia and northern Florida. Elsewhere, thunderstorms are producing beneficial rainfall in parts of the Mid-South.
Outlook: The remnants Beryl will begin to accelerate toward the northeast later today. Beryl may once again become a tropical storm on Wednesday after crossing the coastal Carolinas and reaching the western Atlantic Ocean. Additional rainfall associated with Beryl could exceed 4 inches near the southern Atlantic Coast. Meanwhile, a cold front will move into the East, quickly followed by a second front during the mid- to late-week period. Combined, the two fronts will produce as much as 1 to 2 inches of rain, with locally higher amounts, from the Plains into the Midwest and Northeast. Elsewhere, dry weather will prevail through week’s end from California into the Southwest, while late-week heat will begin to build across the West. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for June 3-7 calls for near- to above-normal temperatures nationwide, except for cooler-than-normal conditions in the Northeastand along the Pacific Coast. Meanwhile, near- to below-normal rainfall across the majority of the U.S. will contrast with wetter-than-normal weather in New England, southern Florida, and the Northwest.
