The mesoscale impact of Oklahoma's winter wheat belt

The impact of Oklahoma's winter wheat belt on the near-surface temperature and moisture fields, both during the period when winter wheat was growing and during the period after harvest, is discussed. At the mesoscale, the differences in surface fluxes over vegetation and over dry, bare soil can result in differential heating that generates a sea breeze-like circulation. Vegetation breeze and other inland breeze circulations can have an appreciable effect on the formation of shallow cumulus clouds. Numerical simulations denote that these circulations can provide preferred regions for focusing atmospheric instabilities and initiating convective development.