National Weather Summary: March 30 - April 5, 2008

                                                                                

Highlights:  Heavy precipitation continued to limit fieldwork across the Mid-South and the Midwest.  In fact, some of the areas hardest hit by recent flooding, including the Missouri Bootheel and neighboring areas, received as much as 2 to 6 inches of additional rainfall.  Significant rain also fell in the Southeast, slowing fieldwork but boosting moisture reserves for pastures, winter grains, and emerging summer crops.  Toward week's end, however, excessive rainfall (locally 4 to 8 inches or more) soaked the central Gulf

Coast region from southeastern Louisiana to western Florida.  Farther west, conditions remained mixed across the nation's mid-section.  Dry conditions persisted on the southern half of the High Plains, leaving jointing winter wheat under increasing levels of stress. 

 

Elsewhere, beneficial rain and snow showers fell across much of South Dakota and Nebraska, while wet conditions lingered on the southeastern Plains.  In Oklahoma, weekly rainfall ranged from a trace or less across the western one-third of the state to as much 6

inches in southeastern areas. Elsewhere, cool, damp weather continued from the Pacific Northwest to the northern and central Rockies, maintaining substantial high-elevation snow packs but hampering fieldwork and limiting the spring growth of pastures and winter grains.  In addition, Northwestern fruit producers monitored the effects of the nearly month-long cold snap on trees and vines.  Weekly temperatures ranged from more than 10 degrees F below normal in parts of the Northwest to at least 5 degrees F above normal

along and near the Gulf Coast.

                                                                                

Early in the week, cold weather prevailed in both the Northeast and

Northwest.  On March 30, daily-record lows included 5 degrees F in St. Johnsbury, VT, and -19 degrees F in Stanley, ID.  Stanley also experienced very cold weather on April 1-3, with lows of -17, -12, and -10 degrees F, respectively.  Farther east, record-setting warmth affected parts of Texas, while heavy rain returned to the Mid-South.  Record highs in Texas for March 30 included 93 degrees F in Childress and 91 degrees F in Wichita Falls.  Elsewhere in Texas, Longview (4.00 inches) netted a daily-record rainfall for March 30.  Meanwhile in Missouri, Vichy-Rolla opened the week with

consecutive daily-rainfall records (2.10 and 1.60 inches on March 30 and 31, respectively).  Heavy precipitation also overspread the upper Midwest, where La Crosse, WI (1.25 inches on March 31), experienced its 12th-wettest March day and wettest since March 13, 1997, when 1.57 inches fell.  Late-March snow also blanketed parts of the Plains and upper Midwest, with 8 inches falling in Chadron, NE.  Daily-snowfall records for March 31 included 5.0 inches in St. Cloud, MN, and 3.5 inches in Pierre, SD.  Snow also lingered for much of

the week in the Northwest, where the 6.9-inch weekly total in Spokane, WA, lifted its season-to-date sum to 89.7 inches (199 percent of normal).  Spokane's only higher seasonal total occurred in 1949-50, when snowfall reached 93.5 inches.

                                                                                

The mid-week period brought another wave of Northwestern record lows.  Wisdom, MT (-14 and -12 degrees F), posted consecutive daily-record lows on April 2-3.  In Idaho, Stanley's low of -17 degrees F on April 1 edged its monthly record, previously set with a low of -16 degrees F on April 2, 1982. 

 

Other monthly records established on April 1 included lows of 6 degrees F (previously, 9 degrees F on April 3, 1975) in Holden Village, WA, and 10 degrees F (tied 10 degrees F on April 2, 1963, April 18, 1972, and April 9, 2001) in Redmond, OR.  Dayton, WA (12 degrees F on both April 1 and 2), shattered its former monthly mark, established with a low of 17 degrees F on April 1, 1936.  Chilly conditions were prevalent even west of the Cascades, where consecutive daily-record lows were set on April 2-3 in locations such

as Astoria, OR (29 degrees F both days), and Olympia, WA (23 and 24 degrees F).  Meanwhile, precipitation associated with the early-week storm lingered into early April across the Great Lakes and Eastern States.  On April 1, Marquette, MI, received 15.8 inches of snow, while Naples, FL, netted 2.95 inches of rain.  Marquette's 2-day (March 31 - April 1) snowfall reached 25.6 inches.  Farther west, another storm took shape across the nation's mid-section on April 3, when daily-record rainfall totals included 3.51 inches in Paducah, KY, and 1.73 inches in Vichy-Rolla, MO.  On April 3-4, thunderstorms

spawned as many as two dozen tornadoes across the South, including eight confirmed twisters (produced by a single parent storm on the evening of April 3) in the vicinity of Little Rock, AR.  The North Little Rock airport recorded its second-highest gust (64 m.p.h. on April 3) in the last 30 years behind only 72 m.p.h. on September 1, 2000.  April 3-4 (24-hour) rainfall totals topped 6 inches in a few Mid-South and Midwestern locations, including Grand Chain Dam, IL (6.43 inches).  By early April 8, the Mississippi River at Greenville, MS, climbed to 7.32 feet above flood stage, the third-highest level there in the last half-century behind 10.20 feet on May 12, 1973, and 7.80 feet on May 25, 1983.

                                                                               

Toward week's end, heavy rain shifted into the Deep South, while heavy snow developed in the north-central U.S.  Southern daily-record rainfall totals included 2.90 inches (on April 4) in Greenville, MS, and 3.80 inches (on April 5) in Mobile, AL.  Mobile's 2-day (April 4-5) total reached 8.32 inches, while as much as 9 to 12 inches drenched nearby locations in southern Alabama.  Farther north, April 6 snowfall totaled 6.7 inches in International Falls, MN, and 5.7 inches in Fargo, ND.  The 2-day (April 6-7) total in International Falls reached 10.2 inches.  Elsewhere in northern Minnesota, April 5-7 snowfall ranged from 20 to 26 inches in locations such as Bemidji and Park Rapids.  Across parts of the Midwest, however, late-week temperatures climbed to their highest levels of the year.  Rochester, MN, attained 50 degrees F for the first time this year on April 3, followed by

highs of 59 degrees F on April 4 and 64 degrees F on April 5.  Rochester's latest date of the year's first 50-degree reading occurred on April 7, 1970. 

 

Meanwhile in Wisconsin, Green Bay's first 50-degree reading of the year occurred on April 3, more than 3 weeks later than the normal date of March 12.  Farther east, however, the month opened with 34 inches of snow on the ground in Caribou, ME, tying its record for the date previously established on April 1, 1955.

                                                                               

Hawaii experienced another week with little rain, following the driest March on record in locations such as Lihue, Kauai (0.19 inch; previously, 0.30 inch in 1957), and Kahului, Maui (0.01 inch; previously, 0.09 inch in 1957).  On the Big Island at Hilo, where April 1-5 rainfall totaled just 0.12 inch (5 percent of normal), there was a daily-record low of 58 degrees F on April 5. 

 

Farther north, significantly above-normal temperatures prevailed across the Alaskan mainland.  In fact, weekly readings averaged as much as 15 to 20 degrees F above normal in northern Alaska.  However, significant precipitation accompanied the Alaskan warmth.  In Anchorage, for example, snowfall totaled 8.7 inches on April 5-6, with totals near a foot in neighboring areas.

                                                                               

National Agricultural Summary: March 31 - April 6, 2008

                                                                               

Winter Wheat: Condition of winter wheat nationwide was rated at 45 percent good to excellent, down from 64 percent last year but unchanged from the week ending November 25, 2007, the last available rating for the current crop.  In Oklahoma and Texas, heading of winter wheat was evident.

                                                                                

Cotton: Planting, at 7 percent, was slightly ahead of last year but the same as the 5-year average.  Texas producers had planted 12 percent or their acreage, 1 point behind normal.  Producers in Arizona and California were able to get 20 percent of more of their crop in the ground thus far, ahead of the normal pace by 8 and 9 points, respectively.  Planting had not begun in the Delta, Southeast, and mid-Atlantic States, due in part to heavy precipitation this spring. 

 

However, Alabama and Louisiana producers were the only States to lag behind the normal pace. 

                                                                               

Sorghum:  Nationwide, sorghum producers had planted 20 percent of their acreage, slightly behind last year but ahead of the normal pace by 3 points.  Warm and dry conditions for most of Texas allowed producers to get ahead of the 5-year average pace by 11 points.  Elsewhere, Arkansas and Louisiana producers were facing delays due to the tremendous amount of moisture during the week, keeping progress behind last year and average by 32 and 19 points, respectively.

                                                                                

Rice:  Producers planted 11 percent of their intended rice acreage, behind last year and normal by 10 and 4 points, respectively.  By week's end, Texas growers had planted 63 percent of their rice acreage compared with 39 percent last year and 46 percent for the 5-year average.  Rice planting advanced rapidly in Texas as a result of dry, warm conditions over much of the State. 

                                                                               

Small Grains: Spring wheat acreage, at 5 percent planted, was seeded slightly ahead of last year but slightly behind normal.  Producers in Idaho had planted 19 percent of their crop but lagged last year's pace by 21 points.  Washington producers, although only behind last year by 2 points, were behind the 5-year average by 14 points. 

                                                                               

Barley producers had planted 7 percent of their acreage, behind last year and the 5-year average by 5 and 2 points, respectively.  Producers in eastern and northern Idaho were anticipating warmer weather to melt snow cover and allow planting to begin as they were 25 points behind last year and 7 points behind normal.  Montana planting progress, at 5 percent, was 5 points behind last year and normal.

                                                                               

Thirty-one percent of the Nation's Oat acreage was planted by the end of the week, at the pace of last year but behind normal by 4 points.  Planting had begun in all producing States except Minnesota, North Dakota, and Wisconsin. 

 

In these States, however, progress was within 5 points of last year's pace and average.

                                                                                

Other Crops: Sugarbeet planting was just getting underway with 2 percent of the acreage planted nationwide.  Idaho planting progress was lagging by 41 and 23 points when compared with last year and normal, respectively, due to remaining winter weather.  By a smaller degree, Michigan producers were also experiencing delays and were 5 and 9 points behind last year and normal, respectively.