HDR1012000170100328951200WEEKLY WEATHER & CROP BULLETIN HDR2012000170100328951200NAT. AGRI. SUMMARY NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY March 20 - 26, 1995 HIGHLIGHTS: Stormy weather in California halted fieldwork and spring tillage for row crops. Strong winds and heavy rains left low-lying fields flooded, with plant loss visible in many small grain and sugar beet fields. Standing water in vineyards and orchards prompted producers to apply fungicides. A widespread storm system covered the Northwestern States, slowing winter wheat fertilization and fieldwork. In Oregon's Columbia Basin, some wheat was reseeded due to poor stands and weed infestation. A weekend snowstorm across Montana and the High Plains brought much needed moisture to wheat fields. Warm weather in the Central States pushed the small grains development ahead of normal. Light to moderate greenbug infestation and wheat streak mosaic were reported in parts of Kansas. The warm, dry weather in the middle Mississippi Valley prevented disease problems for wheat and allowed farmers to prepare cotton and rice fields for planting. Mild weather in the Delta States allowed corn and rice planting to resume rapidly. Farmers in the Ohio Valley took advantage of the warm, dry weather to begin discing fields and applying nitrogen. Mild weather in the Midwest permitted farmers to begin spring tillage and other field activities. In the Great Lakes region, warmer weather left fields wet and too soft for fieldwork, but producers started preparing for spring planting. Hot, dry weather in Texas left some wheat fields in the Plains parched and prompted producers to prewater cotton fields. Some wheat fields in the Plains suffered heavy greenbug damage. Dry field conditions allowed corn planting to resume in central Texas and helped cotton planting in south Texas to advance. HDR2012000170100328951200NAT. WEATHER SUMMARY National Weather Summary Volume 82, No. 13 March 19 - 25, 1995 For additional information, call (202) 720-7917. HIGHLIGHTS: Stormy conditions returned to northern California after a respite of less than a week. Very cool weather accompanied and trailed the precipitation, resulting in snowfall at low elevations and a late-week freeze as far south as the northern Sacramento Valley. Cool air spread eastward into the High Plains by week's end, sparking thunderstorms from the central Plains to northeastern Texas. Heavy rain developed in the upper Midwest, while rain changed to snow in the central and northern High Plains. In the East, early- week warmth succumbed to Canadian high pressure, but very warm weather lingered through week's end in the South-Central and Southeastern States. In contrast, a bitterly cold regime continued to grip mainland Alaska, where weekly temperatures averaged 10 to 23 degrees F below normal, and daily-record lows on Thursday included -49 degrees F in Umiat and -47 degrees F in Bettles. More than five dozen daily records were set from the central and southern Rockies eastward, most of which occurred during March 21-23. Laredo, TX (101 degrees F) registered the Nation's first triple-digit maximum of the year on Tuesday. Highs topped 90 degrees F as far north as Amarillo, TX (91 degrees F) and Gage, OK (93 degrees F). A day later, highs soared to 90 degrees F into southwestern Missouri at Joplin, and Tulsa, OK notched a daily-record high of 94 degrees F. The low of 60 degrees F in Amarillo was their highest March minimum temperature ever. On Thursday, highs of 89 degrees F in Atlanta, GA and Greenville-Spartanburg, SC set all-time March records. On Sunday morning (March 26), however, Amarillo noted a low of 38 degrees F, a stark contrast to their daily-record high of 85 degrees F on Friday. The weather change failed to provide drought relief to the southern High Plains, but beneficial precipitation fell on winter-grain areas farther north. By early March 26, snow depths included 2 inches in Great Falls, MT and 4 inches in La Junta, CO. The weekly precipitation of 0.96 inches in Havre, MT represented more than 70 percent of their year-to-date total. Significant precipitation also fell in the interior Northwest, where Pocatello, ID measured a weekly total of 1.33 inches. In Washington, Spokane's weekly rainfall of 0.41 inches pushed their monthly total past the previous March record of 3.75 inches, set in 1950. On March 25, rainfall topped 1 inch at locations such as Des Moines, IA, Norfolk, NE, and Ft. Worth, TX. A total of 2.39 inches of rain deluged Sioux Falls, SD, making Saturday their wettest March day on record. Farther east, showers swept through the North-Central and Northeastern States early in the week, with snowfall confined to the Canadian-border States. Unsettled weather continued in New England through week's end. Northern and central California observed small stream and urban flooding through Thursday. In contrast to previous stormy periods, however, massive runoff was precluded by the storm's moisture content--limited by its "coldness"--and freezing levels of less than 2000 feet. Four-day (March 19-23) rainfall in the San Francisco Bay area included 4.01 inches in Kentfield, 3.50 inches at the Marin Civic Center, and 3.21 inches at Napa. Southern California escaped with generally 1- to 2-inch totals, although in the mountains, nearly a foot of snow blanketed Wrightwood. Blue Canyon, in the Sierra Nevada foothills, collected 7.59 inches of precipitation, most of which fell as snow. Four-day snowfall in the Sierra Nevada reached 8 feet at Kirkwood, and 6 feet in the Lake Tahoe area. Farther east, in Utah's Wasatch Range, Alta received 25 inches of snow in 24 hours on March 23-24. During the same period, 8 inches fell at both Tooele, UT and Ruth, NV. In the wake of the storminess, Redding, CA tallied a daily-record low of 29 degrees F on Friday. And in Las Vegas, NV, a minimum temperature of 58 degrees F on Monday was followed 4 days later by a maximum temperature of 53 degrees F.