All 2018 crops have now been been harvested, up to December for Maize and Soybean. Winter wheat was sown just before the reporting period and is currently mostly dormant.

As a whole, the United States were dominated by "cold and humid" weather: rainfall was above average by 40%, temperature was below by -0.5℃, and sunshine was significantly below seasonal reference values (-7%) due to abundant cloudiness. In most States that recorded abundant precipitation (e.g. Oregon) the accumulated soil moisture will created good initialconditions for the forthcoming summer crops.

Cold and humid weather prevailed in the Southern Plains, which are the major winter wheat zone in the United States. Precipitation excesses reached  66% in Texas, 51% in Oklahoma, 71% in Kansas  and 20% in Nebraska. In those States, temperature and sunshine anomalies (in brackets) reached  -1.1℃ (-11%), -1.3℃ (-12%), -1.3℃ (-12%), and -0.6℃ (-6%), respectively. Conditions were more favorable in wheat producers of the North-west: in Washington State, for instance, RAIN and TEMP were slightly above average (+4% and 0.8℃, respectively) but sunshine was more significantly above expected values (RADPAR +8%.)

According to NDVI profiles and maximum VCI (0.84 on average), crop growth and development was close to average in the Southern Great Plains and the North-west region. It is worth noting, however, that the fraction of cropped land was down 6% below the average of the recent five years, which was brought about by unfavourable weather; further observations will be required. The maximum VCI map shows above average crop condition (VCIx > 1) in Texas while average or below average crops (VCIx<0.5) occur in Oklahoma, Kansas and Washington. According the NDVI profiles, unsatisfactory crops are more common in Nebraska than in the other four States mentioned. Globally, winter wheat condition is assessed as satisfactory.

Figure.X Click to edit

Figure.X Crop condition development graph of wheat based on NDVI_United States

Figure.X Maximum VCI

Figure.X Spatial distribution of NDVI profiles