WASHINGTON, Sept. 26 (UPI) -- Heavy rain last week soaked eastern Oklahoma to the Tennessee and lower Ohio Valleys, halting fieldwork and triggering flash flooding.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture also said Tuesday that widespread, locally heavy rain also fell across much of the remainder of the Plains and South, hampering summer crop harvesting and winter wheat planting but reviving pastures and further easing drought.
Rain also slowed or halted fieldwork in the Midwest, where wet conditions were becoming a problem in many areas but were most severe from southern Missouri to southern Ohio.
Farther west, rain and snow showers across the northern and central Rockies and northern West further reduced the threat of new wildfires. However, more rain was still needed in Northwestern winter grain areas to promote proper autumn crop establishment.
Elsewhere in the West, dry weather favored fieldwork but increased the wildfire threat, particularly in California and the Great Basin.
