Hot Temperatures Impacting Spring Wheat Crop Nationally & NW

While Wednesday is expected to be a hot day for many locations across the PNW, the temperatures have been climbing steadily for the past couple of days, which has had an impact on the spring wheat crop across the region. Latest USDA numbers show the entire spring wheat crop is headed out in Washington, while that number is at 95% in Idaho. And when it comes to the quality of the spring wheat crop.

“58% good-to-excellent, that's up marginally from last week's 57%. 10% very poor-to-poor, that is also up from last week's 7%. And we're sitting fairly similar to where we were this time a year ago when the crop was 54% good-to-excellent, 13% very poor-to-poor," noted USDA meteorologist Brad Rippey. "We do have some double-digit very poor-to-poor numbers coming in from Washington state this week, 17%, also from Montana at 14%, and Idaho at 10%.”

Meanwhile 65% of Idaho’s crop, and 56% of Washington's spring wheat is considered good-to-excellent.

And with hot temperatures in the forecast for this week into next, Rippey said he will keep a close eye on those quality numbers.

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