Despite widespread precipitation from the central Rocky Mountains east to the northern and central Plains from Oct. 11 to 13, much of the contiguous 48 states remains locked in drought, the US Drought monitor showed Thursday.
The weekly map showed near-normal moisture conditions in central Kansas eastward. Areas to the north, south or west of Kansas, though remained locked in abnormally dry to severe drought.
Here are some edited excerpts of the National Weather Service comments included in the Drought Monitor release.
MIDWEST
Recent rainfall and improving stream flows resulted in a single-category improvement in parts of western and northern Minnesota, while insufficient precipitation during the past 30 days prompted an expansion of abnormal dryness from southeast Minnesota into parts of Wisconsin.
Rainfall during mid-October resulted in a slight decrease in the southern extend of abnormally and moderately dry areas of northern Illinois. Also, the spatial extent of abnormally dry areas was decreased in Missouri based on 30-day precipitation and improving stream-flows.
Twenty-eight-day average stream-flows and soil moisture remain near or above normal through the eastern Corn Belt and Ohio Valley.
HIGH PLAINS
Widespread precipitation of one to three inches since Oct. 12 prompted a large one-category improvement in drought conditions across the Dakotas and an adjustment to only show long-term drought effects for much of the northern Plains. Excluding the northwest corner of North Dakota, 14-day precipitation amounts have totaled two to six inches.
Extreme drought remains across northwest North Dakota, based on long-term spatial indices and soil moisture below the fifth percentile.
Improvements were made across parts of Nebraska and Kansas from weekly precipitation amounts of more than one inch and soil moisture recovery. Likewise, an increase in soil moisture indicators resulted in small improvements across parts of Wyoming.
WEST
Severe and exceptional drought continued throughout much of the Pacific Northwest, California and the Great Basin. Nearly all of this region remained status-quo in terms of drought changes as the Monsoon season ended and the wet season just began. A robust Monsoon brought an end to short-term drought effects across Arizona and southern Utah, but long-term drought effects persist.
Along the west of the Cascades, above-normal precipitation was recorded across western Oregon and Washington since mid-September. This favorable start to the wet season along with improving stream-flows and spatial values supported the removal of small exceptional-drought areas.
Periods of beneficial precipitation and cooler temperatures led to an improvement to extreme drought from exceptional drought along the mountain range front in Utah.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $123.44 to $125.24 per cwt, compared with last week’s range of $123.12 to $125.00. FOB dressed steers and heifers went for $193.78 to $196.35 per cwt, versus $193.39 to $196.04.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $0.63 per cwt at $280.66, while select was off $0.08 at $262.72. The choice/select spread widened to $17.94 from $17.23 with 118 loads of fabricated product and 40 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA reported Thursday that basis bids for corn from livestock feeding operations in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.15 to $1.27 a bushel over the Dec futures and for southwest Kansas were unchanged at $0.40 over Dec, which settled at $5.32 1/4 a bushel, down $0.07.
No live cattle contracts were tendered for delivery against Oct Thursday.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $155.11 per cwt up $1.08. This compares with Thursday’s Oct contract settlement of $156.25 per cwt, up $0.32.