Hot weather covers much of the Nation

Across the Corn Belt, scattered showers and thunderstorms are confined to the upper Great Lakes region.  Slightly cooler air is arriving in the upper Midwest, but the remainder of the Corn Belt is experiencing hot, dry weather, which is sapping topsoil moisture.  On June 20, daily-record high temperatures included 101°F in St. Cloud, Minnesota, and 100°F in Sisseton, South Dakota.

On the Plains, hot weather across much of Kansas, Oklahoma, and Texas favors winter wheat harvesting but is maintaining stress on rain-fed summer crops. 

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