Across the Corn Belt, a cold front stretching from Michigan to Missouri is producing widespread rain showers and a few thunderstorms. Warmth lingers across the Ohio Valley, while cooler weather in the upper Midwest is replacing record-setting warmth. Prior to this rain event, surface dryness had developed during a drier-than-normal February in parts of the central and eastern Corn Belt; on February 25, for example, topsoil moisture in Illinois was rated 29% very short to short.
