Happy Monday!
THIS WEEK (11-17 APRIL): For the U.S. overall the week will trend cooler and drier than last year with a warming trend this week. Severe weather is concentrated in the Deep South from East Texas t0 Mississippi early in the week. The East Coast is trending the coolest in 7 years for this week but a bigger warm up on the way for the coming weekend. That will be a welcome relief after this past weekend that was the coldest in over 25 years with widespread frost and freezes deep into the Southeast and even snow in the Appalachians into PA and NJ. Northeast snowfall to date in the Northeast is the most in 20 years. The severe cold made headline news with many in the Middle Atlantic and Northeast reporting complete crop losses for fruits like
plums,
apples,
peaches,
strawberries.
The record warm winter caused everything to emerge 3-4 weeks early only to be frozen here in April. wt360 warned of this scenario in our Seeds of Success series Episode 2.
For our farmers in the Corn Belt it looks like a dry period for planting from the 12th - 19th.
NEXT WEEK (18-24 APRIL): A more nationwide warm up with the U.S. trending the warmest in 10 years but on the stormy side with the wettest conditions in 25+ years. The Northeast will have the warmest April period in 8 years, the southeast the driest in 8 years while the South Central is the wettest in 25+ years.
Year-t0-date rainfall for the U.S. has been the wettest in 8 years but that's a tad misleading as it's been feast or famine. From the Southwest into the Rocky Mountains into the Central and Northern Plains it's been very dry with below average rainfall. Some dry areas in the Western Corn Belt from Minnesota down into Missouri and Western Illinois. The Central Appalachians have also been on the dry side. The wet areas have been from North Central California into the Pacific Northwest. The Arkansas to Louisiana to Mississippi area has also been very wet.
We hope you have a great week! - Capt Kirk out.