This article was originally published at 3:02 p.m. CST on Monday, Nov. 24. It was last updated with additional information at 4:00 p.m. CST on Monday, Nov. 24.

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OMAHA (DTN) -- U.S. winter wheat conditions improved last week, USDA NASS said in its final national Crop Progress report of 2025 released on Monday.

A wild week of weather is ahead as multiple systems bring rain, strong winds, colder temperatures, and heavy snow before a more powerful storm pushes through the Plains and heads east this weekend, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

CORN

-- Harvest progress: Corn harvest is slightly behind at 96% complete, 4 percentage points behind last year's 100% and 1 percentage point behind the five-year average of 97%. Nebraska corn harvest jumped ahead 18 points compared to last week, but still remain 6 points behind its five-year average.

WINTER WHEAT

-- Planting progress: Winter wheat planting moved ahead by another 5 points last week to reach 97% complete nationwide as of Sunday, equal to last year's pace and the five-year average. Texas still had about 7% of its intended wheat crop left to plant, Missouri had 9% left to plant and Oklahoma had 3% left.

-- Crop development: An estimated 87% of winter wheat had emerged as of Sunday, 1 point behind last year's 88% and 2 points behind the five-year average of 89%. Top producer Kansas' crop was 90% emerged, 5 points behind last year's pace and 1 point behind the state's five-year average of 91%. Oklahoma's crop was 85% emerged, 4 points behind the state's five-year average of 89%. South Dakota's crop was 92% emerged, 6 points ahead of last year's pace. Texas' crop was 78% emerged, equal to the state's five-year average. Nebraska's crop was 93% emerged, 5 points behind the state's five-year average.

-- Crop condition: An estimated 48% of winter wheat that had emerged was in good-to-excellent condition, up 3 points from 45% the previous week. However, that is behind last year's rating of 55% good to excellent. Seventeen percent of the crop was rated very poor to poor, another 2-percentage-point improvement from 19 the previous week. Top producer Kansas' crop was also rated 62% good to excellent.

THE WEEK AHEAD IN WEATHER

Several systems will be moving through the country this week, bringing heavy rain to the Southeast, along with a burst of cold air, strong winds and heavy snow farther north, according to DTN Ag Meteorologist John Baranick.

"We're going to end the reporting year with a wild week of weather. If folks still have some work to do outdoors, the sooner you can get to it the better," Baranick said.

"There is a system moving through the country early this week and has been and should continue to produce some areas of heavy rain and thunderstorms across the Southeast for Tuesday and maybe Wednesday. Right behind it, a clipper system is moving into the Northern Plains. That system will bring a band of heavy snow across the north and will pull through a burst of some pretty cold air. Temperatures are going to drop some 20-30 degrees behind it. The system moves through the Great Lakes on Wednesday and Thursday. Strong winds pushing cold air over the Great Lakes should turn on the lake-effect snow machine, which may make travel around there quite hazardous.

"But the ingredients are coming together for another big storm system to move through the country behind that one as well. The current forecast is to have that system move through the Plains on Friday and then travel eastward for the weekend. Just about everything is on the table with this system including heavy rain and severe weather to the south, and snow and strong winds that may create blizzard conditions across the north. Models are going to have a tough time with this system because of how cold that air is going to be behind it, which should turn a lot of the wheat or other winter crops dormant and could mean some heavy snow to dig out of across the north that would make fieldwork difficult as well. It may be rather chaotic for the first week of December as well, so we may not catch a break before more wild weather moves through."

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To view weekly crop progress reports issued by National Ag Statistics Service offices in individual states, visit http://www.nass.usda.gov/…. Look for the U.S. map in the "Find Data and Reports by" section and choose the state you wish to view in the drop-down menu. Then look for that state's "Crop Progress & Condition" report.

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Editor's Note: How are your crops looking? Are they better, worse or right on track with USDA NASS' observations this week? Send us your comments, and we'll include them in next week's Crop Progress report story. You can email comments to [email protected]. Please include the location of where you farm.

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EllaMae Reiff can be reached at [email protected]

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