Across the Corn Belt, showers and thunderstorms extend southwestward across the Great Lakes region. However, much of the Midwest is experiencing hot, dry weather, with variable impacts on reproductive to filling corn and soybeans. Heat- and drought-related concerns are most acute in the western Corn Belt, where Friday’s high temperatures will range from 95 to 105°F.
On the Plains, hot weather continues to promote fieldwork, including winter wheat harvesting. In areas with winter wheat remaining to cut, harvest on July 23 ranged from 2% complete in Montana to 87% complete in Kansas. Heat is also resulting in accelerated summer crop development, with some potential for adverse impacts where extreme heat intersects drought. Friday’s temperatures should broadly reach 100°F or higher from Kansas to Texas.
In the South, locally heavy showers are occurring across southern Florida. Elsewhere, hot, humid, mostly dry weather favors fieldwork and rapid crop development. By July 23, nearly one-half (47%) of the U.S.
