U.S. Weather/Crop Progress
U.S. Drought Monitor Weather Forecast: A Pacific weather system was moving across the West during Tuesday and Wednesday after the cutoff time of the USDM, bringing more beneficial rain and snow to the drought areas of the Pacific coast to the Great Basin; another was poised to move into the West Coast by the release time of this USDM report; a third is expected to bring more precipitation to the West over the weekend; while a fourth Pacific front is forecast to reach the coast by Tuesday morning. These weather systems will cross the Rockies and re-energize when they reach the Plains, picking up Gulf of Mexico moisture to bring precipitation to the central and eastern portions of the CONUS.
The NWS Quantitative Precipitation Forecast (QPF) for November 28-December 4 calls for 3-6 inches of new precipitation across the Sierra Nevada to northern California, and in spotty areas of coastal Oregon and Washington, with 2+ inches in parts of the Midwest, in a couple strips across the Southeast, and speckled across the Four Corners States. Half an inch to 2 inches of precipitation is predicted for the Great Basin to central and southern Rockies, much of the Midwest, and parts of the Northeast. Outside these areas, 0.25 to 0.50 inch is expected to fall, except little to no precipitation is forecast for southern portions of the Southwest, much of Texas and Oklahoma, and much of the northern Plains. Above-normal temperatures will precede the fronts, especially in the eastern CONUS, with below-normal temperatures following them, spreading across most of the CONUS by the end of the period.
The outlook for December 4-12 has colder-than-normal temperatures dominating the CONUS. Late in the period, warmer-than-normal air moves into the West as the trough migrates further east. Odds favor below-normal precipitation along the northern tier states and above-normal precipitation along the southern tier states and across much of the West.
Follow this link to view current U.S. and international weather patterns and future outlook: Weather and Crop Bulletin.