A return to a more active weather pattern is expected across the central part of the country in the next week or so as cooler air from Canada tries to push the heat dome that has been so persistent across the south for much of the spring/summer and most recently the middle of the country in the last week or so back south and west. As a result, several frontal boundaries and chances for precipitation are expected on a scattered basis through the middle of next week. Ahead of each front will also be periods of stronger and more focused southerly winds that may lead to corn earworm migration possibilities. With crops well into silking/tassel in many areas, growers should closely monitor their fields for new moth appearances and potential feeding especially in areas where a migration risk is in place in the next week.

The primary migration risk area through the period is expected to be from the eastern Plains into the Mississippi River valley. Low risks are in place tonight mainly in the Plains with the risk expanding east and increasing into the Moderate category Saturday night into Sunday morning. Fields from northeast Kansas and eastern Nebraska into Iowa, southern Minnesota, southwest Wisconsin, western Illinois, and northern Missouri may see new moth appearances on a scattered basis. By early next week, the main risk area shifts back into the eastern Plains and western Midwest where a Moderate risk is already in place for late Tuesday into early Wednesday of next week from southeast South Dakota and southwest Minnesota southward into Nebraska, western Iowa, northwest Missouri, and northern Kansas.