In the West, warm weather lingers across the Four Corners region. Cool air is overspreading the remainder of the region, accompanied by showers in the Northwest. Due to persistently cool weather, Northwestern small grains continue to develop at a slower-than-normal pace.

On the Plains, cool, stormy weather across northern areas contrasts with very hot conditions across the southern half of the region. On the central and southern Plains, heat favors winter wheat maturation and harvesting but is increasing stress on summer crops. Today’s high temperatures will exceed 100 degrees F as far north as eastern Colorado and western Kansas.

In the Corn Belt, mild weather and abundant soil moisture reserves are providing generally favorable conditions for corn and soybean development. Showers and thunderstorms are returning to parts of the western Corn Belt, including the middle Missouri Valley.

In the South, warm weather and scattered showers are promoting rapid summer crop development. Locally heavy rain is falling in the vicinity of a slow-moving disturbance centered over eastern Texas.

Outlook: Cool weather will continue to expand across the West, reaching the Plains and upper Midwest during the weekend. Meanwhile, a brief surge of heat will spread across the South, East, and lower Midwest. By early next week, the West will experience a warming trend. During the next 5 days, scattered showers and locally severe thunderstorms will affect much of the nation, with only the Southwest remaining dry. Some of the heaviest rain will fall from the northern and central Plains into the Northeast. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for June 15-19 calls for near- to above-normal temperatures nationwide. Hotter-than-normal weather will be most likely in the south-central U.S. Meanwhile, below-normal rainfall in the Great Basin, Texas, and New England will contrast with wetter-than-normal conditions in the north-central and southeastern U.S.