HDR1012000170100401971200WEEKLY WEATHER & CROP BULLETIN Released April 1, 1997, 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. National Agricultural Summary March 24 - 30, 1997 Highlights: Spring field activities were progressing rapidly across the lower one-third of the country. In the Southwest, progress was on schedule with approximately one-fourth of the cotton planted in Arizona. In the Southeast, corn planting was one-third complete in Alabama, well ahead of last year. Conditions were varied as some areas were too wet for fieldwork and others were needing additional moisture. Winter wheat was greening in the southern Great Plains. About 85 percent of the Kansas respondents described the winter wheat conditions as good or excellent. Most of Nebraska, Kansas, and an area extending through western Texas to Arizona needed rain. In California, fieldwork was progressing normally with weather conditions that were ideal for crop growth. Snowmelt was underway in the Dakotas, Minnesota, and other northern-tier States, with some flooding in the Red River Valley. Mud was causing difficulties in accessing feed supplies, caring for livestock, and hauling grain. National Weather Summary Volume 84, No. 13 March 23 - 29, 1997 For additional information, call (202) 720-7917. HIGHLIGHTS: Dry, windy weather further reduced topsoil moisture on the central and southern Plains. Beneficial rain fell, however, from southeastern Kansas to central Texas. Farther north, rivers across the upper Midwest and northern Plains continued to rise in response to melting snow. Meanwhile, areas that have collected near-record to record March precipitation--the Pacific Northwest and a band from southern Texas to the Ohio Valley--continued to receive rain, albeit less intensely, keeping soils saturated. Weekly temperatures averaged above normal nearly nationwide, resulting in nearly three dozen daily-record highs. Departures topped +5 degrees F in the northern Plains, Southwest, and Southeast. Cold weather eased across New England, though weekly readings averaged up to 3 degrees F below normal. During the first half of the week, about two dozen daily-record highs were set across the West, while cold weather persisted in the Northeast. On Sunday, highs included 75 degrees F in Grand Junction, CO and 80 degrees F in Green River, UT. A day later, Binghamton, NY (13 degrees F) tallied a daily-record low. On Tuesday, daily-record highs in Oregon included 80 degrees F in Medford and 72 degrees F in Corvallis. In California, Bakersfield's high of 90 degrees F represented their third-earliest occurrence of 90-degree heat. On March 24-26, precipitation spread eastward from an upper Midwest-to-central Texas line. Another system followed on March 27-29. Weekly rainfall reached 0.59 inches in Oklahoma City, OK and 0.34 inches in Wichita, KS. For those two cities, combined rainfall during March 23-29 and February 20-21 accounted for most of the year-to-date totals (73 and 68 percent, respectively). By week's end, March-record totals in Kentucky reached 17.32 inches in Louisville and 13.64 inches in Lexington. In Texas, Victoria's March-record total surged to 11.58 inches, boosted by a daily-record total (0.67 inches) on Tuesday. March-record totals (through the 29th) in the Northwest included 14.98 inches in Astoria, OR and 11.31 inches in Olympia, WA. In North Dakota, snow depths during the week decreased from 21 inches to 5 inches in Grand Forks and from 10 inches to 2 inches in Jamestown. On March 15, depths at the two locations stood at 30 and 32 inches, respectively. At midweek, Dickinson, ND notched 74 degrees F, a daily-record high. Farther east, LaCrosse, WI logged a high of 77 degrees F on Thursday, their highest in March since 1991. Significant snowmelt flooding developed in the basins of the upper James and Big Sioux Rivers. Rapid rises occurred in parts of the Souris, Red, and upper Mississippi basins. Farther south, however, scattered showers provided little relief from a 4-week dry spell on the central and southern Plains. Barring late-month precipitation, March totals of 0.01 inch in Valentine, NE and a trace in Dodge City, KS would be among numerous record-tying or -setting totals. In addition to the dryness, increasingly windy weather raked the Plains. For example, northerly winds gusted to 45 mph in Wichita, KS and 49 mph in Lubbock, TX on Tuesday. Two days later, southerly-component winds were clocked at 47 mph in Concordia and 55 mph in Lubbock. On the other side of a cold front, northwesterly gusts in Nebraska reached 60 mph in Scottsbluff and 51 mph in North Platte. Late in the week, daily-record warmth overspread the Southeast. On Friday, highs soared to 87 degrees F in Alexandria, LA and 86 degrees F in Meridian, MS. A day later, maxima peaked at 89 degrees F in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and 85 degrees F in Columbus, GA. Very cold weather (temperatures up to 16 degrees F below normal) continued in Alaska for the second week in a row. On Monday, lows dipped to -25 degrees F in Fairbanks and -33 degrees F in Fort Yukon. Meanwhile, rainfall intensified across Hawaii, where weekly totals included 2.48 inches in Honolulu and nearly 9 inches in Hilo. The next "Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin" report will be released at 12 P.M. ET on April 8, 1997. 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