The AG Resource Midwest U.S. Crop Tour marches on westward after finding better conditions to the east and worsening conditions to the west (although not as bad as expected). The findings are well-supported by soil moisture analysis. The pattern ahead for the U.S. Corn Belt to finish summer is tricky offering both extended periods of dryness interrupted by renegade rains.

In late August, GFS indicates a titanic upper-level high-pressure ridge extending from the Great Lakes region to Quebec. The upper-level ridge is well-correlated to very warm SSTA in the northwest North Atlantic basin. The GFS indicates the tropical cyclone season finally gets underway the last week of August.

During the mid-to-late 1990’s to 2022, the North Atlantic basin entered a decadal warm cycle. Most of that time the North Atlantic basin has produced warmer-than-normal SST accounting for an uptick in tropical cyclone activity. The Atlantic multi-decadal oscillation (AMO) is a SSTA index covering the entire North Atlantic basin.

Many regions of warm/cool SSTA are adversely affecting global climate in July 2022 and now into August including the northeast Pacific Marine Heat Wave and super-warm waters off the Asia East Coast plus surrounding Europe. Meanwhile the tropical North Atlantic has not warmed as expected (yet).