Market Impact Weather

OMAHA (DTN) -- Dry conditions in northeastern Brazil, and very little precipitation for southern Argentina, are the key weather items for the commodity trade's attention Tuesday.

VARIABLE MIDWEST CONDITIONS

The DTN ag weather forecast calls for a quieter pattern in the western Midwest during this week. This will allow recovery from damage caused by a volatile storm system during the Christmas holiday weekend. The biggest issue in the western Midwest was electric power outages due to freezing rain and wind damaging power lines and poles. In the eastern Midwest, the winter wheat has mostly favorable conditions at this time, but we will watch the buildup of a cold pattern over western North America later in the 10-day period to see if it might reach the soft red winter wheat areas.

CONTINUED DRY IN SOUTHERN PLAINS

In the Southern Plains, winter wheat is mostly dormant at this time. Wheat has been affected by dryness and earlier cold conditions in western growing areas. There is no significant impact to livestock as of yet, but we will be watching the buildup of cold conditions over western North America during the coming week or two.

STORM IMPEDES NORTHERN PLAINS TRANSPORT

In the Northern Plains, a major storm occurred Sunday with heavy snow and high winds leading to blizzard conditions. Snowfall of a foot or more has been reported in the region. Major transportation delays were reported Sunday and Monday. Stress to livestock developed as well. Seasonally cold conditions followed the blizzard. Bismarck, North Dakota now ranks fourth in its record seasonal snowfall through December; the record is only a little more than 2 inches above Bismarck's current amount.

NORTHEAST BRAZIL DRYNESS

Across Brazil, the northeastern crop areas are dry with well under 50% of soil moisture capacity. This sector comprises around 10% of total Brazil soybean acreage. Other crop areas have a mostly favorable soil moisture supply at this time. Soybean harvest is reportedly underway in northern Mato Grosso.

VARIABLE ARGENTINA RAINFALL

In central Argentina, a round of heavy rain occurred during the past weekend. The rain leaves soil moisture adequate to surplus in many crop areas; however, some flooding also occurred. Meanwhile, southeastern Buenos Aires had very little rain with some concern over dryness resulting in at least a portion of the acreage lost in this area. Southeastern Buenos Aires has around 8% of the total estimated Argentina soybean planted acreage.

Bryce Anderson can be reached at bryce.anderson@dtn.com

(ES)

Copyright 2016 DTN/The Progressive Farmer. All rights reserved.