Prevailing climatic conditions during 1997 - May through October
Winter wheat harvest started late in the Northwest because of cool and
wet weather in the spring. August rainfall helped to revive central Corn Belt crops that
were stressed by dry, occasionally hot weather during July. Farther west, a persistent
flow of tropical moisture became established across the Southwest and the High Plains in
late July, continuing through summer's end. Brief hot spells punctuated the summer of
1997 across the Midwestern and Eastern states, but temperature overall averaged slightly
below normal.
