The maize harvest was completed early on in the monitoring period and winter wheat has been sowed and has since emerged. Compared to the twelve-year average for the same period, rainfallis below average, especially in the west, including California, resulting inbelow average NDVI and biomass. The east and south of the United Statessuffered an abnormal winter storm and low temperatures in December; winterwheat growth was limited. The abnormal rainfall (in the west) and temperatures (inthe east) resulted in low maximum VCI and below normal crop condition. In thecentral regions, such as Nebraska, Iowa, Kansas, and Missouri, rainfall andtemperature were near normal, resulting in an above-normal maximum VCI andbiomass, showing good crop condition in those regions. Compared to the five-yearaverage, nearly 30 percent of crop areas enjoyed good growing condition, withthose areas mainly distributed over North Dakota, South Dakota, Iowa, Nebraska,Kansas, and Arkansas. Another 30 percent of crop areas in the country showworse growing condition, especially in the east and south coastal zone due to theabove mentioned storm. Thanks to normal rainfall and temperature in north andcenter regions (North Dakota, South Dakota, and Iowa) CropWatch biomass estimatesare much above the twelve-year average.

Figure 3.29. United States crop condition, Oct. 2013-Jan. 2014 (a)