Expanding heat continues to impact agriculture.
USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey discusses the extreme heat spreading across the western half of the country and its potential effects on crop development.
“The big western ridge that really set up very strongly just after the 4th of July and persists to this time has begun to shift eastward, and as we see that high-pressure ridge moving across more toward the nation’s midsection, temperatures are just starting to rise across the northern High Plains and over the next five to seven days that heat will become more fully established, especially across the northern and central plains. From the winter wheat harvest perspective, that is fantastic news that will help to dry down the crop across the northern. Harvest should continue to race northward through the central and northern plains, but then you have to be concerned about some of the summer crops. Spring wheat has had a pretty good session to date. We’ll have to watch if this heat has any late-season impacts on that crop, which is heading out at this time. Also, as you move further south, there are concerns for crops, like corn and soybeans, as temperatures get up into the low triple-digit range later this week.”
