Midwest Weekly Highlights - April 1-7, 2019

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Fairly Dry

Lower precipitation amounts were common across the Midwest during the first week of April (Figure 1).  Most of the region had less than 1 inch of precipitation, with areas in Indiana, southern Lower Michigan and Ohio receiving less than a quarter of an inch.  Most of those areas received less than a quarter the normal amount (Figure 2).  The only significantly wetter areas were in southwestern Minnesota and northwestern Iowa.  Most of this precipitation fell through the mornings of April 4 (Figure 3) and April 6 (Figure 4).  Lake-effect snowfall also occurred along Lake Superior, with amounts of 1-3 inches in areas (Figure 5).  Some of the precipitation in western Iowa also was from light snowfall.
 

Moderately Warm

Temperatures were near to slightly above normal across a large portion of the Midwest for the week (Figure 6).  Most of Iowa, southern Minnesota, southern Wisconsin and western Missouri were 1-3°F above normal.  Most of Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio and southern Lower Michigan were near- to 1°F above normal.  Colder temperatures were observed in the U.P. of Michigan, with temperatures 1-3°F below normal.  Colder temperatures set in at the beginning of the period through the mornings of April 1 (Figure 7) and April 2 (Figure 8) before a gradual warm-up during the remainder of the period.  More than 80 daily low maximum and minimum temperature records were tied or broken on those days (Figure 9).
 

Spring Flooding

Flood waters along the Mississippi River began to crest in Minnesota, northern Iowa and Wisconsin during the first week of April (Figure 10).  Moderate flooding was mostly observed from the Wisconsin-Minnesota border through Guttenberg, IA (Clayton County).  Major flooding crests were common from Dubuque, IA (Figure 11 Dubuque County) through the Quad Cities (Figure 12).  Rising waters were observed throughout southern Iowa and Missouri along the river.  Moderate flooding also continued along the Big Sioux River on the Iowa-North Dakota border, while the Minnesota River also slowly receded.
 

-BJP-