According to today's Weather and Crop Bulletin report of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), remarkably quiet weather allowed hurricane search and recovery efforts to progress in Florida’s hardest-hit areas—and favored summer crop maturation and harvesting across large sections of the country. In fact, significant precipitation was limited to the middle Atlantic States, where the remnants of Ian contributed to multiple days of cool, rainy weather.
A secondary area of precipitation affected the Southwest, eventually spreading to the southern High Plains. Despite the benefits of dry weather with respect to summer crops, many key winter wheat areas lacked moisture for even emergence and proper establishment. The regime responsible for the tranquil weather—a Western ridge and Eastern trough—also resulted in in record-setting Northwestern warmth and Midwestern and Northeastern freezes. Despite the slightly premature end of the growing season in some areas, most unharvested summer crops were sufficiently mature to withstand the freezes.
For the full USDA report for October 12, click here.