Weather Report 31 January 2018
South Africa - Weather The erratic rain pattern will continue on a frequent basis for the eastern half of South Africa during the coming week. Moisture totals through next Tuesday morning will range from 0.75 to 4.00 inches with local amounts of 6.00 inches or more. The western half of the country will receive little to no rain. Any precipitation that does occur will be rapidly lost to evaporation. Scattered shower activity will continue on a frequent basis for eastern and central South Africa February 7 13 while areas further west remain in a mostly dry mode. Crop conditions will remain favorable in much of eastern South Africa during the next two weeks. Fieldwork will be sluggish at times due to the frequent precipitation pattern, though most producers will have opportunities to get into the fields. Early soybean maturation may be slowed at times in the wetter biased locations. Northern Cape and western sections of Free State and North West will remain too dry to support favorable growth during the next two weeks. The crops will often be stressed and concerns for production losses will further increase. Rainfall during the second week of the outlook will be too light to significantly bolster soil moisture.
United States of America - Weather U.S. MIDWEST: The Midwest will see a tranquil weather pattern most often through the next two weeks with at least a week to ten days of cooler than usual temperatures starting in the west Thursday. A few rounds of organized precipitation are expected with most of the precipitation light. The most widespread precipitation event during the next ten days will occur Friday into Sunday and a large part of the region should see at least some snow. U.S. DELTA AND SOUTHEAST: The Delta and the Southeast will see a quiet weather pattern through the middle of next week with a few rounds of mostly light precipitation expected. After that, conditions may become wet Feb. 8-13. Confidence for this time period is low and some computer forecast models are predicting significant rain while other models are mostly dry. Significant rain during this period would be welcome in many areas and would restore soil moisture to more normal levels for this time of year.
South America - Weather BRAZIL: Regular rounds of showers and thunderstorms will occur during the next ten days from eastern Mato Grosso and northern Mato Grosso Sul through Goias and into western and central Bahia, Minas Gerais, and northern and eastern Sao Paulo. Harvesting of soybeans and planting of the second season corn crop will be sluggish and concerns over soybean quality declines may increase. Eastern Mato Grosso and Goias into Minas Gerais will be wettest and fieldwork is likely to be halted during a large part of the next ten days. Some improvements in conditions for fieldwork will occur in western Mato Grosso and northwestern Mato Grosso do Sul when a period of drying occurs Sunday into at least Feb. 9. Meanwhile, a restricted rainfall pattern will be in place during the next ten days from Paraguay into Rio Grande do Sul. Fieldwork should advance well in these areas and with ample soil moisture in place conditions for crops should be favorable as well. Rain will be needed later in February to ensure favorable conditions for crop continue. ARGENTINA: The bottom line to the two-week outlook has not changed since Monday and extreme heat and little to no significant rain will cause serious and yield-reducing crop stress through the next ten days. Temperatures will steadily warm during the next few days and by Friday through the late next week many central and southern parts of Argentina will see highs of 102 to 106 with readings near 110 in some areas.
Europe, New Zealand and Australia - Weather EUROPE: Light precipitation occurred in northeast Europe Monday into this morning. Moisture totals varied from a trace up to 0.47 inch most often from the Netherlands, Scandinavia and northern Germany through the Czech Republic, Poland, the Baltic States, Belarus and northern Ukraine. Otherwise, mostly dry weather occurred excepting a few erratic showers over the U.K. where totals were no more than 0.16 inch. AUSTRALIA: Stress will remain high for cotton, sorghum, corn, soybeans, sunseed, peanut crops and livestock over most of interior east-central Australia this week. Irrigated crops will likely continue to be impacted as well and the demand for irrigation will remain high. Rain will increase over Queensland this week, but the greatest precipitation will occur north and west of most of the major grain and oilseed production areas. However, some rain will increase into crop areas, especially northern locations, and the moisture will at least temporarily improve conditions.