Midwest Weather Expected to Be Hot and Dry Through July
The Midwest will probably remain dry through the end of the month and the heat that has been wilting crops may persist until September.
Temperatures in the Great Plains and Midwest are expected to remain 5 to 7 degrees Fahrenheit above normal (2.8 to 3.9 Celsius) through the end of July, according to MDA EarthSat Weather in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
The company’s 30- to 60-day outlook calls for above-normal temperatures to grip the center of the U.S. through September.
“The pattern is driven by persistence, with the heat of the first two months of summer continuing into August,” MDA’s forecast showed.
Hot, dry conditions in the Midwest have left corn and soybean fields in the worst shape since 1988 as the most severe U.S. drought since 1956 continues. Soybeans reached a record high $16.5125 a bushel today on the Chicago Board of Trade, surpassing the previous peak of $16.3675 on July 3, 2008.
Soybeans for November delivery rose 1.7 percent to $16.48 a bushel by 7 a.m. on the CBOT. The oilseed jumped 36 percent this year as U.S. harvest concerns followed a drought that slashed the past season’s production in Brazil and Argentina.
Corn for December delivery rallied 1.3 percent to $7.945 a bushel after touching $7.98. The record for a most-active contract is $7.9925. Corn has surged 57 percent since mid-June. Futures for September delivery, the contract closest to expiration, rose as high as $8.115 today.
The area from Nebraska and Iowa south to Texas and Louisiana is expected to have less than normal rainfall through July 28, according to Commodity Weather Group LLC in Bethesda, Maryland.
The rainfall deficit may continue for Iowa, Illinois and Indiana through Aug. 2, according to Commodity Weather.
-With assistance from Jeff Wilson in Chicago and Whitney McFerron in London and Phoebe Sedgman in Melbourne. Editors:
To contact the reporter on this story: Brian K. Sullivan in Boston at bsullivan10@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Dan Stets at dstets@bloomberg.net
Midwest Forecast Calls for Hot, Dry Weather for Rest of July
Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
Tire tracks on the bottom of the Morse Reservoir in Cicero, Indiana, on July 12, 2012.
Tire tracks on the bottom of the Morse Reservoir in Cicero, Indiana, on July 12, 2012. Photographer: Daniel Acker/Bloomberg
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