Editor's Note: Each year, DTN publishes our choices for the Top 10 ag new stories of the year -- issues and events -- as selected by DTN analysts, editors and reporters. This year, we're counting them down from Dec. 18 to Dec. 31. On Jan. 1 and Jan. 2, we will look at some of the runners-up for this year. Today, we continue the countdown with No. 4: How, with a waning La Nina and largely neutral conditions for the spring and summer, an active weather pattern brought better-than-expected weather for most of the country.

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Weather is always a hot-button story to the growing season and always comes with areas that end up in favorable condition, and others that deal with challenges. This one was no exception but tended to be a more favorable weather situation than most years for much of the United States.

That was not the forecast at the beginning of the year, however. A year ago, DTN and other outlets were concerned about hot and dry conditions for the central U.S. in the middle of 2025.

Because of a waning La Nina and a forecast of near- to below-normal sea-surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean for the summer, the fear was that a stagnant weather pattern would develop and promote long stretches of hot and dry conditions that could wither crops. Many outlets were trying to make comparisons to the dreaded 2012 season. And while the season started with widespread drought, particularly in the Plains and Midwest in early spring, that did not end up being the case for most of the season.

ACTIVE SPRING PATTERN ALLEVIATES DROUGHT CONCERNS

La Nina peaked in January and early February, then quickly moved into a neutral state in March. The ocean temperatures were a little warmer than many forecasts, which meant that other influences on our weather could take over, and they fought it out for months. The result was an active weather pattern, but not for a specific area for too long of a time. Many areas of the country benefited in early spring, though some areas saw flooding as well.

A particularly busy week of weather in the first five days of April produced widespread severe storms and double-digit rainfall over large areas of the Ohio and Tennessee valleys. Flooding was a major issue and led to late planting and long-term delays as wet weather continued for the rest of spring.

In the Plains, the active pattern aided drought reduction and good soil moisture for winter wheat from Kansas southward, particularly in April and May. The same goes with northern areas, as the Dakotas saw reduction in drought as well. Nebraska had to wait until late May, but once the spigot turned on, it was rather frequent for most of the summer, leading to very little drought come harvest time.

The Midwest benefited from this pattern, too. Very few areas were missed by system after system crossing the region. Drought was largely eliminated by the start of summer, except for some smaller patches of moderate drought along the Iowa-Missouri border through northern Illinois and northwestern Indiana. SUMMER STARTS ACTIVE, GOES STAGNANT AS LA NINA REDEVELOPS

The active spring weather pattern continued through June and into the first half of July. Predictions for corn and soybean production were record high by the middle of the season, and the early concerns about poor weather essentially vanished. Only very small areas of drought existed on the drought monitor east of the Rocky Mountains at the end of July.

Though some significant severe weather did occur, including a couple of major widespread wind and tornado events in May, and a derecho across North Dakota into northwest Minnesota on June 20, the weather was overall favorable for most areas of the country.

Because of cooling waters in the Pacific Ocean, the weather pattern became much more stagnant in the second half of summer. This continued to favor much of the Plains and Upper Midwest, with frequent rainfall that bolstered expectations for high yields. But the eastern half of the Corn Belt through the Delta and parts of the Southeast turned much drier. Drought grew rapidly from Arkansas up through Ohio, resulting in a flash drought as areas went from not having any designations on the U.S. Drought Monitor in early August to D3, or extreme drought, by mid-September. The water levels on the Mississippi River quickly took a tumble and have been low ever since, resulting in headaches for transportation up and down the river systems.

The active weather pattern caused many in the Plains to have a near-normal summer season in terms of temperature. Extreme heat was limited to shorter stretches this year. Meanwhile, the lack of rainfall and increased temperatures led to heat stress for much of the Delta and Eastern Corn Belt, especially toward the end of the season.

Dryness continued for the late-fill period in early fall, but ebbed and flowed more across the county, particularly in the Eastern Corn Belt. Several systems hit the Ohio and Tennessee valleys in late September and October but were too late to benefit crop production and could not provide a big enough boost to the water levels on the Mississippi River, at least not for an extended period. Drier conditions started to work into the Central and Southern Plains, and drought began to increase again, but did so in patchy fashion. La Nina finally became official, according to NOAA, in October.

WEATHER INCREASED DISEASE PRESSURE

Southern rust became a big topic during the late-summer and early fall season. Producers were noting dust clouds as their combines started to roll in Iowa and Illinois. This was due mainly to the good weather in the spring across the South. Heavy rain and wet conditions, along with mild to warm weather, allowed the rust to grow across the Delta and Southeast. As the summer wore on, frequent systems continued to bring moisture northward, carrying rust spores and other diseases northward as well. Frequent rainfall and high humidity in the middle of the country helped rust to continue to develop throughout the end of summer.

OTHER EVENTS AND WEATHER NOTES

The weather during the growing season was largely favorable for a lot of the country but wasn't perfect. Drought was a major issue for producers in Montana for most of the year. The Pacific Northwest dried out, and drought was introduced in May and continued to grow throughout the year. Heavy rain and flooding wiped out drought in California and significantly reduced it in the Four Corners area but also led to the tragic flooding event in the Hill Country of Texas in early July. Wildfires were frequent and widespread for the first half of the year in the West and Canadian Prairies, leading to smoke hazards for much of the spring and summer.

On a more favorable note, the hurricane season was rather quiet. Only one tropical storm landed in the U.S., moving across Florida and then the Carolinas into Virginia in early July. For the first year since 2015, no hurricanes landed on the U.S. mainland, though there were three Category 5 storms, including Hurricane Melissa that posted maximum sustained winds of 185 mph and devastated Jamaica and eastern Cuba.

And lastly, winter started off quite severely. During Thanksgiving week, a plunge of arctic air spread across the country and was repeatedly reinforced through the first half of December. Snow was frequent and led to widespread coverage over most of the Northern Plains, Midwest and Northeast by Dec. 14. That has quickly flipped the page to end the month, however, and extreme warm weather is forecast to break records during the week of Christmas, eliminating a lot of that snow. The front-loaded winter season is likely to return in January as extremely cold air lurks in Western Canada and should return at some point in the month.

To find more weather conditions and your local forecast for free from DTN, head over to https://www.dtnpf.com/…

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See more stories in DTN's Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025 countdown:

-- Editors' Notebook, "Counting Down Top Ag Stories of 2025," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025: No. 10, "From RFS Exemptions to E15 in CA, Biofuels Policy Makes News in 2025," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025: No. 9, "Glyphosate Faces Uncertain Future as Lawsuits Mount and Science is Questioned," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025: No. 8, "NWS Causes Threat to US Livestock Industry," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

-- Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025: No. 7, "A Year of Scorched Earth at USDA With Mass Firings, Canceled Grants and Reorganization," https://www.dtnpf.com/… ;

-- Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025: No. 6, "Financial Losses, Labor Fears Tested America's Farmers in 2025," https://www.dtnpf.com/….

-- Top 10 Ag Stories of 2025: No. 5, "Cattle Industry Experiences Historical Prices, Herd Numbers and Volatility," https://www.dtnpf.com/…

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com

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