HDR1012000170100224981200WEEKLY WEATHER & CROP BULLETIN Released February 24, 1998, by the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS), Agricultural Statistics Board, U.S. Department of Agriculture. For information on "Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin" call Rhonda Brandt (202) 720-7621, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. National Agricultural Summary February 16 - 23, 1998 Highlights: Unseasonably warm, wet weather prevailed over much of the Nation during the week. Livestock benefited from the warmer-than-normal temperatures, especially in the northern Plains where temperatures averaged as much as 15 to 20 degrees above normal. There was growing concern among winter wheat producers that the crop would break dormancy too early and be vulnerable to later cold weather. In an area from Kansas southward and eastward, the winter wheat crop had already started to turn green and develop. Another series of storms pounded California, further delaying fieldwork. Many crops in low-lying fields remained in standing water and some were a total loss. Heavy rains from Texas to New England benefited small grains but caused livestock feeding problems in Texas. Field preparations and early planting activities were delayed in the Southeast. Also, wet conditions in Georgia prevented top dressing of small grains and harvesting of last cotton fields. In Florida, soil moisture was adequate to surplus throughout the State. Fieldwork was delayed, sugarcane harvest stopped, and pastures damaged due to excessive moisture. National Weather Summary Volume 85, No. 8 February 15 - 21, 1998 For additional information, call (202) 720-7917. Highlights: Heavy precipitation continued to deluge California and the Southwest as another three storms pushed ashore. Meanwhile, a large, slow-moving storm system in the East produced rainfall in excess of 4 inches across the southern Atlantic Coast States and kept soils saturated from the Gulf Coast States into the Ohio Valley and Northeast. For the fifth consecutive week, temperatures averaged well above normal (7 to 24 degrees F) in the North Central States, but ranged from 2 to 7 degrees F below normal along the primary storm track across California and the Southwest. In the Northeast, cold air made a brief early-week appearance, but elsewhere across the North, temperatures averaged much above normal. On Sunday morning, lows dipped to -26 degrees F in Saranac Lake, NY and -19 degrees F in Albany, VT. Farther west, however, Williston, ND notched a daily-record high of 50 degrees F. Meanwhile, bitterly cold air also returned to western and northern Alaska, holding weekly temperatures as much as 6 degrees F below normal. On Tuesday, lows plunged to -62 degrees F in Umiat (3 degrees F shy of their daily record) and -49 degrees F in Prudhoe Bay. In Hawaii, dryness intensified despite scattered showers. By week's end, streaks of above-normal temperatures reached 33 days in Ft. Wayne, IN and 28 days in St. Louis, MO. (The lowest temperature recorded so far this winter in Springfield, MO--16 degrees F--is well above their previous record of 9 degrees F, set in 1982-83. In Illinois, winter temperatures have not yet fallen to 0 degrees F or below in Peoria or Springfield. The last time those two cities had no sub-zero cold was 1952-53.) Temperatures remained above freezing from February 15-21 (and continuing) in St. Louis, February 15-20 in Minneapolis, MN, and February 16-18 in Fargo, ND. Cloudy conditions accompanied the mild weather, however, as Sioux Falls, SD endured no breaks in their overcast for more than 205 hours (February 13-21). Heavy rain and gusty winds buffeted much of the South and East through midweek. Weekly rainfall totaled 4 to 8 inches from central Florida to the coastal Carolinas. In Florida's Citrus County, 24-hour rainfall on February 15-16 reached 7 inches. For the second time in 3 months, monthly rainfall records were broken in Florida at Tampa (9.99 inches through February 23) and Jacksonville (9.52 inches). A February record was also established in Wilmington, NC (10.62 inches). On February 16-17, as many as a half-dozen tornadoes touched down in central Florida, a precursor to a deadly outbreak less than a week later. As the expansive storm shifted northward, daily-rainfall records were established on Tuesday in nearly a dozen locations from Jacksonville, FL (2.44 inches) to Lansing, MI (0.73 inches). Significant snowfall was confined to New England, where 7 inches fell in Conway, NH. Peak wind gusts during the storm reached 54 mph in Chatham, MA and 50 mph in Middlebury, VT. During the week, February rainfall records were shattered in more than a half-dozen California cities. Records had stood since 1878 in Monterey (14.45 inches through February 23) and downtown San Francisco (14.86 inches). In Eureka, where a trace or more of rain fell on 50 of the year's first 52 days, daily-record rainfall accumulated on Thursday (2.47 inches) and Saturday (2.05 inches). Strong winds accompanied Saturday's storm, gusting to 51 mph in Sacramento and more than 60 mph in the vicinity of Reno, NV. In the Sierra Nevada, water content of the snow pack stood at 38 inches (165 percent of normal) on February 23, up from 20 inches (107 percent) at the end of January and 9 inches (74 percent) on January 1, 1998. Farther inland, monthly rainfall through February 23 crept to within 0.16 inch of the February record (2.52 inches in 1993) in Las Vegas, NV and rose to 3.08 inches in Tucson, AZ, their second-highest February total on record (behind 4.15 inches in 1905). Note: US level crop conditions are weighted averages based on 1997 planted acres for the selected states. The next "Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin" report will be released at 12 p.m. ET on March 3, 1998. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in its programs on the basis of race, color, national origin, sex, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, and marital or familial status. Persons with disabilities who require alternative means for communication of program information (braille, large print, audiotape, etc.) should contact the USDA's TARGET Center at 202-720-2600 (voice and TDD). To file a complaint, write the Secretary of Agriculture, USDA, Washington, D.C., 20250, or call 1-800-245-6340 (voice) or 202-720-1127 (TDD). USDA is an equal employment opportunity employer. ACCESS TO REPORTS!! For your convenience, there are several ways to obtain NASS reports, data products, and services: INTERNET ACCESS All NASS reports are available free of charge on the worldwide Internet. For access, connect to the Internet and go to the NASS Home Page at: http://www.usda.gov/nass/. Select "Today's Reports" or Publications and then Reports by Calendar or Publications and then Search, by Title or Subject. E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION All NASS reports are available by subscription free of charge direct to your e-mail address. Send an e-mail message to: usda-reports@usda.mannlib.cornell.edu. In the body of the message type the word: list. AUTOFAX ACCESS NASSFax service is available for some reports from your fax machine. Please call 202-720-2000, using the handset attached to your fax. Respond to the voice prompts. Document 0411 is a list of available reports. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - PRINTED REPORTS OR DATA PRODUCTS CALL OUR TOLL-FREE ORDER DESK: 800-999-6779 (U.S. and Canada) Other areas, please call 703-834-0125 FAX: 703-834-0110 (Visa, MasterCard, check, or money order acceptable for payment.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - ASSISTANCE For assistance with general agricultural statistics or further information about NASS or its products or services, contact the Agricultural Statistics Hotline at 800-727-9540, 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET, or e-mail: nass@nass.usda.gov.