According to the Weather and Crop Bulletin report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), hot, dry weather dominated the South, with little or no rain falling from the southern Plains into the Southeast, except across Florida’s peninsula.
The Southern heat and dryness favored a variety of activities, including corn, peanut, rice, and soybean harvesting. In contrast, a late-season surge of Southwestern moisture interacted with a couple of cold fronts, generating scattered to widespread showers across the northern and western U.S.
On the Plains, beneficial showers extended as far south as Kansas. Still, topsoil moisture was limited across large sections of the Plains and Northwest, as winter wheat planting advanced.
Temperatures were generally not low enough to threaten immature summer crops, including upper Midwestern corn and soybeans.
For the full USDA report for Sept. 27, click here.