Weather report: Cool, cloudy and breezy in the Corn Belt

In the West, precipitation is mainly confined to the northern tier of the region, from the Pacific Northwest to the northern Rockies. In California, warm, dry weather is promoting spring fieldwork.

On the Plains, mild weather is returning to Montana, but cool conditions persist elsewhere. A few snow showers dots the southern half of the Plains, where rangeland, pastures, and winter wheat continue to benefit from the rain and snow associated with two late-February storms.

In the Corn Belt, cool, cloudy, breezy weather persists, along with scattered snow showers. Midwestern wheat continues to overwinter well, with 69% of the Illinois crop rated good to excellent on February 24.

In the South, cool, breezy, mostly dry weather prevails. Freeze wa rnings are in effect this morning in portions of the Southeast, including northern and central Georgia, where recent warmth has accelerated bud and bloom development.

Outlook: For the remainder of the week, mostly dry weathe r will prevail nationwide, except for some precipitation in the Northwest. In addition, there will be lingering rain and snow showers across the eastern one-third of the U.S. During the weekend, a new surge of Pacific storminess will arrive in the Northwest. Early next week, a late-winter storm will produce a stripe of precipitation from the northern Plains into the Southeast. Chilly conditions will persist for the next several days across the eastern half of the nation, but Western warmth will expand during the weekend to reach the High Plains. The NWS 6- to 10-day outlook for March 6-10 calls for below-normal temperatures in the Pacific Coast States, the Ohio Valley , and the Southeast, while warmer-than-normal weather will prevail across New England and central and southern portions of the Rockies and High Plains. Meanwhile, near- to above-normal precipitation across the majority of the nation will contrast with drier-than-normal conditions in New England, the southern Atlantic region, the Pacific Coast States , and the Desert Southwest .