HDR1012000170101126961200WEEKLY WEATHER & CROP BULLETIN Released November 26, 1996, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. For information on "Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin" call Greg Preston at (202) 720-7621, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. For assistance with general agricultural statistics, information about NASS, its products or services, contact the Agricultural Statistics Hotline at 1-800-727-9540 or E-mail: NASS@NASS.USDA.GOV. NATIONAL AGRICULTURAL SUMMARY November 18 - 24, 1996 HIGHLIGHTS: Another week of cold, wet weather limited harvest activity and small grain seeding over parts of the Nation. Continued wet conditions and low temperatures in the Midwest slowed the dry down of row crops still in the field. Snow, frozen ground, and lodging slowed harvest progress in parts of the Corn Belt. Persistently wet conditions in the central Great Plains left producers waiting for fields to freeze to support the combines. Ice, snow, and rain delayed the row-crop harvest in the southern Great Plains and western Delta, and flooded some fields. Deep snow in the Dakotas caused producers to leave some row crops unharvested until spring. Showers over the Southeast slowed the harvest but improved small grain and pasture condition. Heavy rains along the Pacific Coast halted all field activities and caused some flooding. Winter wheat condition was mostly good to fair, virtually unchanged from last week. In Colorado, wheat emergence was slow on some replanted fields. Wet weather delayed wheat seeding in the southern and central Great Plains. In the Mountain States, wheat was protected from wind damage by the snowpack. Corn harvested at 93(%) percent complete was up 5 percentage points from last week and 1 point ahead of the 5-year average. Lodging in Indiana slowed harvest progress. Wet conditions slowed the harvest in the Corn Belt, but producers continued where the weather permitted. Corn harvested in Ohio, at 76% complete, was 11 points behind the average. Cotton acreage harvested was estimated at 82%, up 5 points from last week. In Missouri, the cotton harvest at 88% complete is 2 weeks behind schedule. Cotton growers in Arizona harvested 78% of their acreage, up 4 points from the previous week, but 14 points behind the average. The cotton harvest in Texas at 69% complete made good progress in the Plains, with backlogs at some gins reported. Producers in northern Texas, waiting for freezing temperatures, were encouraged by the cooler weather later in the week. Some cotton producers in Tennessee were doubtful that the cotton harvest would be completed by year's end. Soybean acreage harvested, at 94%, was up 2 points from last week, but 3 points less than the average. In Tennessee, the soybean harvest was 68% complete, nearly 2 weeks behind normal, due to delays from rainy weather. Widespread rainfall slowed the soybean harvest in the Delta. With only 2 days suitable for fieldwork in Missouri, due to rainy weather, the soybean harvest was 2 weeks behind normal. National Weather Summary Volume 83, No. 47 November 17 - 23, 1996 For additional information, call (202) 720-7917. HIGHLIGHTS: For the sixth consecutive week, Pacific-origin storms pounded the West. Precipitation topped 4 inches from western Oregon to the Sierra Nevada, and heavy snow or ice accumulated from Washington to the upper Midwest. Weekly totals ranged from 2 to 4 inches as far south as southern California and as far east as the northern Rockies and Utah's Wasatch Range. Deep snow cover protected the northern Plains' winter wheat from temperatures of 0 to -27 degrees F; no snow fell on the central High Plains before late-week readings dipped into the single digits. Continuing a 2-week trend, increasingly cold air funneled into areas east of the Rocky Divide, holding weekly temperatures 15 to 33 degrees F below normal in the northern Plains. In contrast, warmth on November 19-21 resulted in more than five dozen daily-record highs across the Southwestern and South Central States, where weekly departures ranged from +5 to +12 degrees F. Early in the week, one storm departed the northern Plains, while another barrage of moisture reached the West Coast. On Sunday, lingering snowfall reached 2.2 inches in Aberdeen, SD, while in western Montana, Kalispell's heaviest snowfall on record began. Between November 17-20, 23.0 inches fell in Kalispell, including 20.1 inches on Tuesday, breaking their 24-hour snowfall record set in December 1951. Farther west, 16.0 inches fell in Yakima, WA on November 18-19, eclipsing their 24-hour record of 14.0 inches, set in December 1964. Severe icing struck the Spokane River basin and other eastern Washington valleys. Even west of the Cascades, 7.0 inches blanketed Seattle, WA on Tuesday. In northern Calfornia, 24-hour rainfall reached 8.05 inches in Big Sur on November 16-17. Precipitation then shifted northward, totaling 6.47 inches in Gold Beach, OR during a 24-hour span on November 17-18. Elsewhere in Oregon, monthly records for 24-hour rainfall were broken on November 18-19 in Salem (3.24 inches), Portland (3.86 inches), and Eugene (4.99 inches). The heavy rain caused several mudslides and extensive small-stream flooding across western Oregon. Farther east, very warm air briefly surged into the central High Plains, but persisted across the South until late in the week. Daily records on November 19 included 80 degrees F in both Goodland, KS and Pueblo, CO. A day later, November-record highs were established in Midland, TX (90 degrees F) and Roswell, NM (88 degrees F). A final day of warmth on Thursday produced daily-record highs in locations such as Corpus Chrisi, TX (91 degrees F) and New Orleans, LA (83 degrees F). Temperatures dipped sharply at week's end throughout the Plains, falling into the single digits as far south as northwestern Kansas. On Saturday, Rapid City, SD marked a November-record 14th day in a row with sub-freezing maxima, while Williston, ND (-21 degrees F) noted their first of three consecutive daily-record lows. Williston also collected daily-record precipitation on Tuesday (0.31 inches) and Saturday (0.43 inches) en route to a weekly snowfall of 12.4 inches. Bolstered by additional late-week accumulations, weekly snowfall reached 28.4 inches in Kalispell, 15.8 inches in Bismarck, ND, 14.1 inches in Aberdeen, SD, 12.1 inches in Minneapolis, MN, and 8.7 inches in Spokane, WA. Snowfall on Saturday totaled 7.7 inches in Bismarck and 6.3 inches in Minneapolis. Three days earlier, the season's first significant snowfall occurred in a stripe from the Midwest to the middle Ohio Valley; otherwise, favorable weather prevailed for late-season harvests across the Corn Belt. More moisture reached the West Coast on Thursday, particularly across southern California. Due to initially elevated snow levels, even high-elevation areas from California to Colorado received a rain-snow mixture and very high precipitation totals. In Alta, UT (elevation 8,700 feet), a 2.58-inch storm total resulted in only 12 inches of snow, most of which fell at storm's end. Farther east, rain frequented the Southeast during the week, totaling more than 2 inches in parts of the southern Appalachians and the Delta. On Saturday, thunderstorms erupted from the Ozark Plateau to central Texas, dumping locally excessive rainfall. Weekly temperatures averaged more than 10 degrees F above normal in western and northern Alaska, including a departure of +21 degrees F in Barrow. Barrow logged a daily-record high of 31 degrees F on Sunday, the next-to-last day before the beginning of their 63-day Arctic night. But bitterly cold weather intensified across east-central Alaska, where readings averaged up to 22 degrees F below normal and temperatures dipped below -40 degrees F. Meanwhile in Hawaii, Oahu's 2-week deluge abated, but not before fueling Honolulu's wettest November (18.75 inches) and wettest month since March 1951. Corn: Percent Harvested, Soybeans: Percent Harvested, Selected States Selected States -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1991- :-----------------------: 1991- State:Nov 24,:Nov 17,:Nov 24,: 1995 State:Nov 24,:Nov 17,:Nov 24,: 1995 : 1996 : 1996 : 1995 : Avg. : 1996 : 1996 : 1995 : Avg. -------------------------------------- -------------------------------------- : Percent : Percent : : CO : 98 96 94 93 AL : 84 77 75 82 GA : 100 100 100 100 AR : 75 73 97 94 IL : 96 92 100 94 GA : 76 69 62 71 IN : 90 78 100 90 IL : 99 98 100 99 IA : 95 91 100 95 IN : 98 96 100 100 KS : 99 98 100 98 IA : 100 99 100 100 KY : 97 96 98 98 KS : 92 91 100 98 MI : 85 72 100 77 KY : 92 78 96 94 MN : 97 95 99 93 LA : 100 99 100 97 MO : 92 89 96 93 MI : 98 95 100 97 NE : 95 93 98 92 MN : 99 99 99 99 NC : 100 100 100 100 MS : 97 94 99 92 OH : 76 61 98 87 MO : 90 86 100 95 PA : 79 71 95 79 NE : 100 100 100 100 SD : 93 91 98 88 NC : 58 42 40 54 TX : 100 100 100 100 OH : 93 90 100 100 WI : 85 78 99 85 SC : 63 55 44 50 : SD : 100 100 100 100 17 Sts: 93 88 99 92 TN : 68 59 86 88 -------------------------------------- : These 17 States produced 93% of the 19 Sts: 94 92 97 97 1995 corn crop. -------------------------------------- These 19 States produced 94% of the 1995 soybean crop. Cotton: Percent Harvested, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1991- State:Nov 24,:Nov 17,:Nov 24,: 1995 : 1996 : 1996 : 1995 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : AL : 91 86 95 91 AZ : 78 74 82 92 AR : 95 93 100 98 CA : 90 85 89 96 GA : 86 82 84 82 LA : 100 100 100 99 MS : 99 98 100 98 MO : 88 80 97 96 NM : 81 75 72 69 NC : 85 79 78 81 OK : 41 35 54 60 SC : 92 90 74 84 TN : 96 92 93 94 TX : 69 60 68 67 : 14 Sts: 82 77 82 82 -------------------------------------- These 14 States produced 99% of the 1995 cotton crop. Winter Wheat: Crop Condition by Percent, Selected States -------------------------------------- State : VP : P : F : G : EX -------------------------------------- : Percent : AR : 2 12 45 35 6 CA : 0 0 30 50 20 CO : 1 3 21 55 20 GA : 1 3 20 74 2 ID : 0 2 11 81 6 IL : 2 1 19 61 17 IN : 0 3 28 56 13 KS : 0 0 10 73 17 MI : 1 4 25 58 12 MO : 0 3 45 47 5 MT : 0 7 60 31 2 NE : 0 2 27 64 7 NC : 0 1 22 69 8 OH : 1 4 26 54 15 OK : 0 2 15 75 8 OR : 0 0 43 50 7 SD : 3 6 21 60 10 TX : 1 9 38 45 7 WA : 0 0 33 67 0 : 19 Sts : 0 3 24 62 11 : Prev Wk : 0 3 23 62 12 Prev Yr : 2 11 35 47 5 -------------------------------------- Note: US level crop conditions are weighted averages based on 1995 planted acres for the selected states. The next "Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin" report will be released at 12 P.M. ET on December 3, 1996. 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