Exceptional drought conditions appear to be building in the Central Plains, stressing large swaths of Hard Red Winter wheat acreage, although formerly droughty western states as well as the Midwest and Southeast moisture conditions are mostly normal, according to the latest weekly Drought Monitor from the National Weather Service.
DROUGHT SUMMARY
A pair of low pressure systems tracked from the Southeast northward along the East Coast during the week ended Tuesday, bringing a swath of widespread precipitation (two to four inches, locally more) to much of the East Coast at the end of April, the NWS said. During the final week of April, the Southern Great Plains along with the Lower Mississippi Valley also received widespread precipitation with amounts exceeding two inches across southeastern Colorado, northern and eastern Oklahoma and northeastern Texas.
Late April was mostly dry across the Central to Northern Great Plains and Middle Mississippi Valley, the NWS said. Little to no precipitation was observed throughout the West where a significant warmup at the end of April resulted in rapid snowmelt, runoff and flooding along streams and rivers.
In contrast to those above-normal temperatures, cooler-than-normal temperatures occurred across the Great Plains, Corn Belt and much of the East from April 25 to May 1, the NWS said.
HIGH PLAINS
Rainfall of 1.5 to two inches, or more, during the past week along with the Standard Precipitation Index at various times and soil moisture supported a 1- to 2-category improvement to southeastern Colorado, the NWS said. For similar reasons, a 1-category improvement was made to southwestern Kansas.
However, the 12-month SPI still supports extreme and exceptional drought conditions across much of western and central Kansas, the NWS said. Wichita has received only 0.72 inches of precipitation from March 1 to April 30, making it the second driest March and April on record and the driest since 1936.
Based on the NDMC’s short and long-term objective blends and CPC’s leaky bucket soil moisture, moderate and severe drought expansion was warranted for northern Kansas and south-central Nebraska, the NWS said. Extreme drought was increased westward across west-central Nebraska following a very dry April. North Platte tied the driest April on record.
Degradations also were made to southeastern Kansas based on the 60 to 120-day Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index, the NWS said.
Abnormal dryness coverage increased in northeastern Wyoming, based on recent dryness and declining soil moisture, the NWS said. A small improvement was made to the southwest corner of South Dakota, based on a local report that was consistent with VegDri and objective drought blends.
Thirty- to 60-day SPI along with soil moisture indicators support an expansion of abnormal dryness and moderate drought across southeastern Montana, the NWS said.
CATTLE, BEEF RECAP
The USDA reported formula and contract base prices for live FOB steers and heifers this week ranged from $169.18 per cwt to $181.79, compared with last week’s range of $174.50 to $182.37 per cwt. FOB dressed steers, and heifers went for $273.18 per cwt to $279.39, compared with $274.41 to $284.12.
The USDA choice cutout Thursday was up $0.43 per cwt at $309.52 while select was up $0.37 at $287.49. The choice/select spread widened to $22.03 from $21.97 with 110 loads of fabricated product and 19 loads of trimmings and grinds sold into the spot market.
The USDA said basis bids for corn from feeders in the Southern Plains were unchanged at $1.71 to $1.83 a bushel over the Jul corn contract, which settled at $5.89 a bushel, up $0.00 1/2.
The CME Feeder Cattle Index for the seven days ended Wednesday was $201.53 per cwt, down $1.17. This compares with Thursday’s May contract settlement of $203.65 per cwt, up $0.22.