Across the Corn Belt, very warm, dry weather across much of the region favors corn and soybean development. Dry conditions remain a concern in parts of the northern Corn Belt, where high temperatures on Thursday reached daily-record levels in La Crosse, Wisconsin (99°F), and St. Cloud, Minnesota (96°F). Early Friday, thunderstorms are approaching the upper Midwest, while clouds and a few showers linger in the middle Ohio Valley.
On the Plains, overnight thunderstorms swept across Montana, the Dakotas, and northern Nebraska, delivering beneficial rain but producing localized damage due to high winds and large hail.
