A heat dome will spread above-normal temperatures into much of the U.S. next week. Heat stress will be coming at an inopportune time for pollinating and filling corn as well as filling soybeans. There is some potential for rainfall across some areas, but an overall hotter and drier period should stress both crops.
A derecho brought widespread wind damage and hurricane-force winds to Illinois and surrounding areas along the Iowa-Missouri border and into southern Indiana on June 29.
The latest run of the U.S. Drought Monitor shows expanding D1, or moderate drought, conditions across the Eastern Corn Belt, while rainy weather in the Southern Plains led to notable improvements.