La Niña is expected to continue weakening through July, but will still be making an impact on parts of Arkansas as well as its neighbors, according to NOAA’s Climate Prediction Center.

“Potential La Niña impacts in the United States include an enhanced chance for below-average precipitation across southeastern Texas and Louisiana,” the CPC said. Parts of Texas and Louisiana have been in drought for months.

Forecast maps from the CPD for the three months ending July 2011 show an increased chance for above normal rain in Arkansas north of a line approximately from Fayetteville to about Thayer, Missouri, as well as all of Missouri, most of Iowa, Illinois and parts of Wisconsin and Indiana, the southeastern toe of Minnesota as well as New England, and the mid-Atlantic states. North Dakota, parts of northern Minnesota and eastern Montana are expected to see above-normal rainfall.

The CPC sees equal chances for the rest of the Arkansas to have above, normal or below-normal rainfall.

The CPC maps also show most of Arkansas as having equal chances for above-, normal or below-normal temperatures. Only the southernmost part of the state has a probability for above-normal temperatures.

For more, see www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/lanina/enso_evolution-status-fcsts-web.pdf, or http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/analysis_monitoring/enso_advisory/ensodisc.html.

For more information about crop production, contact your county Extension office or visit www.uaex.edu.