Still plenty of moisture left in the soils though!

Soilmoisture anomaly:

These maps sometimes take a day to catch up to incorporate the latest data(the bottom map is only updated once a week).

Soils in many parts of the Cornbelt have dried out enough for early planting.

https://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/Soilmst_Monitoring/US/Soilmst/Soilmst.shtml#

Drought Monitor maps:

Latest: The first map below is the latest. The 2nd one is from last week.

April 23: LOOKY_LOOKY!  For the first time this year, its gotten dry enough for a few (small)areas in the Upper Midwest/Western Cornbelt to report slight drought.

April 30: Drought increased a bit......Plains and U.Midwest.

The maps below are updated on Thursdays.

      https://droughtmonitor.unl.edu/                                                              

Some of the growing dry spots in the Plains are getting hit with rains right now..

Liquid equivalent precip forecasts for the next 7 days are below.

Around average many places.

Day 1 below:

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/fill_94qwbg.gif?1526306199054

Day 2 below:

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/fill_98qwbg.gif?1528293750112

Day 3 below

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/fill_99qwbg.gif?1528293842764

Days 4-5 below:

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/95ep48iwbg_fill.gif?1526306162

 Days 6-7 below:

http://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/97ep48iwbg_fill.gif?1526306162

7 Day Total precipitation below:

7 Day Total precipitation below:

https://www.wpc.ncep.noaa.gov/qpf/p168i.gif?1566925971

Looks like more drying after that but possibly turning wetter towards the end of week 2..........low confidence.

National Weather Service 6-10 day, 8-14 day outlooks.

 Updated daily just after 2pm Central.

Temperature Probability

 Precipitation Probability

the 8-14 day outlooks ArchivesAnalogsLines-Only FormatGIS Data

Temperature Probability

2 week rain totals from the just updated 18z GFS ensemble

Another thing some folks have commented about is the wind

Most of us that do limited tillage are having wind dry the soil out even with some cover on top

One farmer remarked the wind blew most of his corn stalks into the ditch or piled them up in the field

Yesterday had a brisk wind, today was relatively  less wind

Wind can dry soil out really fast

Some times you find no moisture to plant into

We are going very shallow with spring tillage this yr.

Edit:

Nobody around here is satisfied with their system, as every combination has been tried and found to be left wanting. We are going to spend 20,000.00 for additional add on trash wippers to our planter and try another system always looking and probably still not satisfied

In southern states the wheat that was g/E is suffering from heat and wind [Texas] mostly dry wind

Other places have emerged soybeans that worry about the coming cold temps

Our corn will still be below the surface this week end, or under plastic

Too much spring water last yr to everything but water this yr

Some will have 1000 acres of beans emerged by this week end. Personally, when we had our late frost many yrs ago, anybody with newly emerged soybeans escaped damage, 

So: We will find out 1st of next week, I suppose or later if dry/wind persists

Wayne, I'm very concerned about the very cold temps coming up in SW Ontario, staring this Friday morning and lasting for almost a week.  There will be several mornings with the temp dropping to and even just below freezing. 

Low temperatures days 3-7.

How far south will the freezing temperatures push next weekend?