More Scattered Showers Moving Through Corn Belt Into Next Week

In the Midwest, a front moved through on Friday and Saturday, producing areas of scattered showers and pockets of heavy rain. Luckily, it missed a lot of the wet areas from central Illinois into Ohio, but these areas remain on the verge of flooding should more heavy rain fall. A system will move through the Great Lakes and its front will sweep across the region through early Thursday. Areas of showers will develop with the front but may be spotty in some areas. Other areas could see heavy rain and severe weather out of it, however. Another system will move in over the weekend with showers continuing into next week.

In the Northern Plains, scattered showers moved through over the weekend and continue Monday. They have hit some of the drier areas in the region, but more rain is needed to significantly reduce the growing drought. After a few dry days, another system will move in on Friday with periods of scattered showers through the weekend and possibly again next week. That may be able to move the needle a bit better if the rain indeed develops.

In the Central and Southern Plains, periods of scattered showers moved through over the weekend and hit some extremely dry areas in Oklahoma and parts of Texas as well as Nebraska, which has seen a good uptick in rainfall over the last few weeks. Another front sweeping through the region this week should bring more showers through many areas as well. That could be important for some areas as drought is incredibly intense, made worse by extremely hot temperatures in the south. Additional fronts are forecast to move through next week, particularly across the north, which may bring more needed rainfall.

In the Delta, scattered showers developed as a front settled in over the weekend, producing more rain than forecast. It was still sparse though and drought conditions have been rapidly growing over the last couple of weeks. However, the front will remain stuck in the region this week, producing at least some scattered showers that should be beneficial. Another front will push through late this week and clear out the region, which may return it to a drier pattern for next week.

In the Southeast U.S., isolated showers have been developing lately, which included over the weekend. With a stalled front in the region and another passing through later this week, showers should occur daily. Some areas that are missed could see dryness and drought occurring, while areas that get hit could see some improvement.

In the Western U.S., monsoon showers were a bit more widespread over the weekend than models suggested, but not a lot of heavy rain was noted except in parts of eastern Nevada and Utah. Monsoon showers should favor the Rockies this week but will still be possible in other areas as well. Overall, the rainfall will not be enough to reduce drought in too many areas outside of the Rockies, though. Systems may be poised to move through the northwest more often starting this weekend, though, which could be beneficial in the near future.

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com