Scorching temperatures are expected out west this weekend.
USDA Meteorologist Brad Rippey says that while the region is no stranger to high temps, the weather’s late-May, early-June timing is unique.
“There is going to be short-lived but rather intense heat wave. It is going to push temperatures well above 100º throughout the California Central Valley and the Desert Southwest. That hot weather is going to extend pretty much throughout the western United States. We’ll see a lot of the lower elevation sites outside of the Central Valley in California getting well into the 90s, and even the mountains will be a lot of cases in the 70s or 80s.”
Rippey says that early next week, those western temperatures will be weakened by incoming moisture. However, further east, things are just now warming up.
“It looks like, finally, a break from the cool conditions that have plagued much of the central and eastern United States in recent days. That should be fantastic with all the moisture that we’ve had in those areas and then warmer weather. Things are really going to pop. We should see the rapid emergence and development of spring zone crops like corn and soybeans. Then that should open up some more opportunities for field work, getting some of that late planting done, and it should also help with rangeland and pasture growth as well as winter wheat development.”
Rippey says that while conditions will be warmer, they will hang out around the high 80’s to the low 90’s. Those temperatures not only benefit the fields but also the cab when it comes to the comfort of hard-working farmers.
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