Just how well the Kansas winter wheat crop withstood extreme weather at the end of January likely won’t be known until the spring at the earliest, but for now there appears to be no major red flags.
Updated crop conditions released by the USDA this week pegged the winter wheat crop in the top American production state at 61% good to excellent as of Feb. 1. That is up 1 point from the early January rating and sits a comfortable 11 points above a year earlier. In the final USDA weekly crop condition rating released in late November, the Kansas crop was rated at 62% good to excellent.
A winter storm brought ice, snow, and extreme cold across much of the US in late January. Temperatures fell well below normal in many cases – along with brutal wind chills - although snow cover did provide some protection for winter wheat crops ahead of the most frigid conditions. As can be seen on the map below, much of Kansas did have snow cover at the end of January, except for the most westerly approximately one-third of the state.
Much of the US central Plains are now seeing unusually warm weather, with temperatures on Thursday (Feb. 5) expected to reach a high near 70 degrees F as far north as Montana.
Meanwhile, winter wheat condition ratings for other states were mixed. The Colorado crop was pegged at 57% good to excellent in early February, up from 43% in early January and on par with last year. The condition of the Nebraska crop dropped to 24% good to excellent from 40% a month earlier but also remained near last year. At 19% good to excellent, the Montana crop was down from 26% a month earlier – but far below 71% a year ago.
In the Soft Red Winter state of Michigan, the crop was rated 64% good to excellent as of early February, unchanged from a month earlier and up from 55% last year. The Ohio crop was rated at 55%, down 5 points from a month ago but steady with last year.
