Released April 7, 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 Mark E. Miller (202) 720-7621, office hours 7:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. ET. National Agricultural Summary March 30 - April 5, 1998 HIGHLIGHTS Continued warm weather enabled farmers in the South to complete much-needed fieldwork. Winter wheat benefitted from generally good soil moisture and mild temperatures. Corn Belt farmers attempted to prepare fields for the planting season, but sporadic rains limited their efforts. A cool, wet pattern returned in the Southwestern States, delaying many farming activities, especially in California. Winter wheat: The mild winter left the crop in mostly good condition, and nearly a fifth of the crop was rated excellent. In Kansas and Oklahoma, 86 percent of the crop was in good or excellent condition. Soil moisture and temperatures were generally favorable for crop development in most States. As a result, jointing was ahead of normal in many areas of the southern Plains, Southeast, and eastern Corn Belt. Development in Kansas and Georgia was less advanced, with jointing progress approximately a week behind normal. Heading development was progressing at a normal pace, with 2 percent of the crop at that stage. In California, nearly a third of the crop was headed, well ahead of the 5-year average. Corn: Favorable weather allowed planting to progress quickly in Texas and Georgia, where farmers typically have about half of their corn crop planted by this date. Good progress was also made in the Bootheel of Missouri and in North Carolina. In recently planted Texas corn fields, seedlings were emerging, aided by warm weather. In the major Corn Belt States, soils were wet and cold. Muddy fields limited spring tillage operations, particularly in Iowa, where virtually no fieldwork was done. However, field preparation delays have not affected the planting schedule so far. Cotton: Warm, dry weather arrived in the Gulf Coast States just as the planting season began, allowing Southern cotton growers to begin their planting on schedule. Nationally, planting progress was slightly behind the 5-year average. Farmers in the Southwest cotton regions experienced frequent delays caused by repeated storms that kept most fields too wet to plant. Cold soils were also blamed for planting delays. Other crops: Sorghum planting has been delayed by wet fields in most of the southern States except Texas, where farmers continued planting on schedule. Nationally, progress is only slightly behind the 5-year average. Rice growers made good planting progress, with 10 percent of the crop seeded, equal to the 5-year average. Farmers in Idaho have planted 21 percent of their spring wheat in spite of intermittent showers. National Weather Summary Volume 85, No. 14 March 29 - April 4, 1998 For additional information, call (202) 720-7917. Highlights: Warmth continued in the East through midweek, setting nearly 100 additional daily-record highs and boosting weekly temperatures to as much as 16 degrees F above normal. In addition, at least 19 locations notched March-record highs. Meanwhile, a major storm system dumped heavy precipitation on the central Plains, upper Midwest, and Great Lakes region. Farther west, wet, cool weather persisted across California and the Southwest (weekly temperatures as much as 12 degrees F below normal), slowing fieldwork and planting. During the mid- to late-week period, wet conditions returned to the Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic States, ending a week-long period of favorably warm, dry weather. Early in the week, readings dipped nearly to the freezing mark as far south as southern California, setting nearly a dozen daily-record lows. On March 29-30, consecutive daily-records were established in Chatsworth (34 and 33 degrees F) and Simi Valley (36 and 33 degrees F). Prior to the arrival of the coldest air, Sacramento (in central California) reported a trace of snow on March 28, their first flakes since February 27, 1996. At the 6,220-foot level on Mt. Laguna, snow accumulated to a depth of 19 inches by Sunday afternoon. By month's end, season-to-date (since July 1, 1997) rainfall reached 11.82 inches in Bakersfield (207 percent of their annual normal), surpassing their record of 11.73 inches, set in 1977-78. Farther inland, storm-total (March 28-30) snowfall topped 3 feet on parts of Arizona's Mongollon Rim. Mt. Lemmon, near Tucson, recorded 36 inches during a 48-hour period ending Monday afternoon. On Sunday, a high of 53 degrees F in Phoenix was their lowest in March since March 10, 1935. In the storm's wake, Flagstaff, AZ tallied a daily-record low of 1 degree F on Monday. Heavy snow also fell in the central Rockies, and rain changed to snow across the upper Midwest. In South Dakota, the last day of March featured snowfall of 12.8 inches in Huron and 9.3 inches in Sioux Falls. The storm lifted monthly precipitation to March-record levels in Sioux Falls (4.08 inches), Madison, WI (5.46 inches), and Alpena, MI (7.32 inches). In Minnesota, seven tornadoes struck on Sunday, only the seventh March outbreak in State history. One of the twisters had a path length of 62 miles across parts of five counties. Meanwhile, record warmth continued to expand across the eastern half of the Nation. On Sunday in Indiana, Indianapolis experienced their earliest occurrence of 80-degree warmth since March 8, 1974. A day later, March records were tied or broken in locations such as Atlantic City, NJ (87 degrees F), Harrisburg, PA (87 degrees F), Wilmington, DE (86 degrees F), and Flint, MI (79 degrees F). The final day of the month featured Vermont's highest March reading on record (88 degrees F in Union Village), breaking a standard that had stood since March 29, 1946 (84 degrees F in Burlington). Highs soared to 89 degrees F in Concord, NH, Boston, MA, Albany, NY, and Hartford, CT, establishing March records. In Maine, Portland registered 88 degrees F on the 31st, higher than their former March record (86 degrees F in 1946), April record (85 degrees F), and highest reading during the summer of 1996 (86 degrees F). Sharply cooler air arrived in the East after midweek, however, accompanied by rain. Severely dry conditions continued in Hawaii. On Oahu, Honolulu netted only 0.03 inches (1 percent of normal) during the month, their third-driest March on record. Elsewhere, March rainfall totaled 0.18 inches (7 percent of normal) in Kahului, 1.87 inches (45 percent) in Lihue, and 3.67 inches (26 percent) in Hilo. Farther north, mild weather continued in Alaska, with stormy conditions across the extreme south. Weekly temperatures averaged 0 to 13 degrees F above normal. On Friday, McGrath (51 degrees F) posted a daily-record high. Corn: Percent Planted, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : CO : 0 NA 0 0 GA : 56 NA 76 60 IL : 0 NA 0 0 IN : 0 NA 0 0 IA : 0 NA 0 0 KS : 0 NA 3 2 KY : 0 NA 0 2 MI : 0 NA 0 0 MN : 0 NA 0 0 MO : 5 NA 6 4 NE : 0 NA 0 0 NC : 13 NA 10 9 OH : 0 NA 0 0 PA : 0 NA 0 0 SD : 0 NA 0 0 TX : 41 NA 38 44 WI : 0 NA 0 0 : 17 Sts: 2 NA 2 2 -------------------------------------- These 17 States planted 90% of last year's corn acreage. Winter Wheat: Percent Headed, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : AR : 8 NA 13 4 CA : 30 NA 14 22 CO : 0 NA 0 0 GA : 6 NA 48 19 ID : 0 NA 0 0 IL : 0 NA 0 0 IN : 0 NA 0 0 KS : 0 NA 0 0 MI : 0 NA 0 0 MO : 0 NA 0 0 MT : 0 NA 0 0 NE : 0 NA 0 0 NC : 6 NA 4 3 OH : 0 NA 0 0 OK : 3 NA 5 1 OR : 0 NA 0 0 SD : 0 NA 0 0 TX : 7 NA 6 6 WA : 0 NA 0 0 : 19 Sts: 2 NA 3 2 -------------------------------------- These 19 States planted 92% of last year's winter wheat acreage. Cotton: Percent Planted, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : AL : 1 NA 0 1 AZ : 15 NA 25 25 AR : 0 NA 0 0 CA : 5 NA 28 10 GA : 2 NA 1 1 LA : 0 NA 0 0 MS : 0 NA 0 0 MO : 0 NA 0 0 NM : 0 NA 4 2 NC : 1 NA 0 0 OK : 0 NA 0 0 SC : 0 NA 1 0 TN : 0 NA 0 0 TX : 10 NA 6 10 : 14 Sts: 5 NA 5 6 -------------------------------------- These 14 States planted 99% of last year's cotton acreage. Sorghum: Percent Planted, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : AR : 0 NA 9 6 CO : 0 NA 0 0 IL : 0 NA 0 0 KS : 0 NA 0 0 LA : 0 NA 3 3 MS : 0 NA 9 9 MO : 0 NA 0 0 NE : 0 NA 0 0 NM : 0 NA 0 0 OK : 0 NA 0 2 SD : 0 NA 0 0 TX : 39 NA 30 40 : 12 Sts: 13 NA 10 14 -------------------------------------- These 12 States planted 99% of last year's sorghum acreage. Spring Wheat: Percent Planted, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : ID : 21 NA 22 22 MN : 0 NA 0 0 MT : 1 NA 0 1 ND : 0 NA 0 0 SD : 3 NA 1 1 : 5 Sts : 1 NA 1 1 -------------------------------------- These 5 States planted 96% of last year's spring wheat acreage. Rice: Percent Planted, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : AR : 0 NA 6 4 CA : 0 NA 0 0 LA : 39 NA 37 30 MS : 4 NA 10 7 TX : 32 NA 2 21 : 5 Sts : 10 NA 11 10 -------------------------------------- These 5 States planted 97% of last year's rice acreage. Oats: Percent Planted, Selected States -------------------------------------- : Week Ending : :-----------------------: 1993- State:Apr 5, :Mar 29,:Apr 5, : 1997 : 1998 : 1998 : 1997 : Avg. -------------------------------------- : Percent : IA : 1 NA 26 21 MI : 1 NA 0 0 MN : 0 NA 0 1 NE : 14 NA 33 24 ND : 0 NA 0 0 OH : 19 NA 16 10 PA : 20 NA 14 7 SD : 2 NA 1 1 WI : 1 NA 0 0 : 9 Sts : 3 NA 6 5 -------------------------------------- These 9 States planted 54% of last year's oat acreage. Winter Wheat: Crop Condition by Percent, Selected States -------------------------------------- State : VP : P : F : G : EX -------------------------------------- : Percent : AR : 0 6 35 50 9 CA : 0 0 30 40 30 CO : 2 7 14 50 27 GA : 2 9 32 49 8 ID : 0 1 10 55 34 IL : 1 3 16 68 12 IN : 0 2 18 63 17 KS : 0 2 12 62 24 MI : 1 6 33 49 11 MO : 0 11 30 49 10 MT : 1 8 34 53 4 NE : 1 5 25 55 14 NC : 1 9 36 48 6 OH : 1 2 14 56 27 OK : 0 0 14 77 9 OR : 0 2 6 42 50 SD : 0 4 16 60 20 TX : 1 7 37 41 14 WA : 0 0 9 57 34 : 19 Sts : 0 4 20 57 19 : Prev Wk : NA NA NA NA NA Prev Yr : 1 5 24 55 15 -------------------------------------- The next "Weekly Weather and Crop Bulletin" report will be released at 12 p.m. ET on April 14, 1998. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) prohibits discrimination in all its programs and activities on the basis of race, color, national origin, gender, religion, age, disability, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and marital or family status. 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