The Texas Hill Country saw flooding this week which led to two deaths and dozens of roads closed.
A heat dome across the country made for rain in Texas and Louisiana while wildfires made for hazy conditions in major cities. However, the outlook for corn and soybean crops remains good as the rain has increased moisture levels and decreased drought in some areas across the Grain Belt.
Transcript
Heavy rains slashed across southern Texas and resulted in flash flooding over a wide area. Many roads were washed out in counties near the Mexican border and two people died.
Toby Guerrero, Uvalde, Texas Resident: "I've been here since 2000, 25 years and never seen anything like it. I've seen it before elsewhere but not here. It's pretty amazing."
The Nueces River basin saw flooding only a year after hundreds died in a similar flash flood.
Camryn Sanford, Local business owner: “I'm nervous for the people in the area where their homes are potentially gonna be flooded. I feel like we had, like there was very little warning. We knew a flood was coming, but we didn't know it was gonna be to this magnitude.
The storms also caused street flooding in northwest Louisiana. Dozens of cars were caught in the high water.
Canadian wildfires have made for hazy conditions in major cities adding to already uncomfortable dew points.
The heat dome has made for record high temperatures and increased humidity levels across much of the country, but it has not been warm enough to slow the growth of corn and soybeans.
Eric Hunt, University of Nebraska Extension: “The good news this week is a lot of places have been dropping more at night than expected — lows haven't been optimal, but they haven't been terrible. Mid-to-upper 60s is a lot better than mid-to-upper 70s. We've seen more of that heat pushed further north. We've had some warmer days, but that larger diurnal range isn't terrible for corn as long as you have moisture — you don't want highs in the low 90s and lows in the upper 70s for two weeks straight, because that combination really increases respiration.”
Nearly two-thirds of the country remains in some kind of drought. The recent rains have helped reduce dry conditions across the Northeast, Southeast and Midwest while the High Plains and Mountain West continue to suffer. The National Weather Service is predicting wetter than normal weather across much of the nation. Near normal temps are expected in the Plains with cooler conditions from the Upper Midwest to the Northeast.
For Market to Market, I’m Peter Tubbs.
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