Physical desk · Morning edition · Wednesday, November 11, 2026
The Rhine at Kaub is at 16 cm, so river barges there still cannot carry full loads, while no disaster anywhere is rated serious
Argentine Pampas heat sat at the 0th percentile on November 5, against the same 30 days in earlier years. US Corn Belt at the 100th percentile was the furthest from the middle.
Drawn from the numbers stored with this edition; the same picture is on its share card.
The ground is busy but not stretched, and the weather picture is rain-heavy rather than fire-heavy. All 75 active weather disasters are rated minor, none serious. The Rhine at Kaub is still the lowest-water spot in the briefing, though it moved only slightly overnight. Fire heat near tracked regions has cooled, and the Pilbara reading is about half what it was at the last edition.
The Rhine at Kaub is the situation to follow. The noon level reads 16 cm, up 3 cm since the last edition, and flow is 505 m3/s, up 13. That is a small lift on a very low river, so barges there still cannot carry full loads. No reading here ties it to a market this system prices. Upstream rain would be what changes it, and nothing given shows that coming. On the Mississippi, St. Louis reads 12.6 ft and Thebes reads 19.0 ft.
The Rhine looks set to stay low unless rain arrives. The Black Sea near Odesa has its wettest 30 days in the 15-year record, with no reading here linking it to wheat shipments. Brazil's Cerrado is drier at the 7th percentile and hot, a soybean and corn region to follow. The Iowa Corn Belt is wet and warm. Port and canal transit counts are unconfirmed today, so they are left out.
Busy but not stretched: the Rhine at Kaub stays very low and all 75 active weather disasters are rated minor.
- Rhine at Kaub: noon level 16 cm, up 3 cm since the last edition, with flow at 505 m3/s, up 13. Barge loads stay tightly limited. No market this system prices is tied to it by a reading here.
- Black Sea near Odesa: 120 mm of rain in the 30 days to 2026-11-05, the wettest in 15 years against a 25 mm median, and unchanged since the last edition. Nothing given shows an effect on wheat shipments.
- Brazil Cerrado in Mato Grosso: 74 mm of rain in 30 days to 2026-11-05, the 7th percentile, down 19 mm since the last edition, with heat at the 93rd percentile. It is a soybean and corn region.
- Mississippi at St. Louis reads 12.6 ft and Thebes 19.0 ft, with no change worth calling.
- Queensland coal basins and the California Central Valley show elevated fire heat on the map.
- Portugal is closing schools as Storm Charles approaches with gale-force winds, per France 24.
- Guam internet is disrupted after Super Typhoon Champi, and drone strikes have hit data centers in Russia.
Black Sea near Odesa, 30-day rain in mm: the latest total is the wettest of 15 years, and too little rain is the drying risk.
Fire heat near tracked economic regions has fallen back on the latest day after a week of swings; more heat is the damaging direction.
US gas in storage, in BCF, has risen every week shown and sits slightly above the usual level for this week.
Rain extremes lead the map: the Black Sea is severe, Brazil's Cerrado and the Corn Belt are high, and fire heat is elevated in California, Punjab and
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Imagery: Esri. Land outline: Natural Earth. Fire: NASA FIRMS. Rainfall: Open-Meteo. Events: GDACS. Tags and caption are the desk's; places, positions and ratings are not.
The desk voices are written by AI, not by human reporters. Every figure is taken from the listed market, sensor and headline data, and an automated check flags any figure or quoted source that is not.