Midwest Weekly Highlights - September 24-30, 2013

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Light Precipitation

The majority of the region saw less than 1" of rain last week (Figure 1). The majority of the exceptions were localized and on the peripheries of the region, including northwest Minnesota, northeast Missouri, southeast Missouri, and southwest Kentucky. Locally, precipitation totals were as much as 2" to 3" for the week. Most of Ohio, saw no precipitation, along with large portions of Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois, and Iowa. As a result of the low precipitation totals, most of the region saw less than 50% of normal precipitation for the week (Figure 2).

 

Last Warm, Above Average Week Before Fall Takeover?

In the last week of September, the western half of the region saw temperatures well above normal (Figure 3). Most of the western half saw average temperatures 4°F to 10°F above normal, with extreme northern Minnesota even reaching 12°F above normal. Even with above normal temperatures, the region saw average maximum temperatures in the 70's to 80's and average minimum temperatures in the 40's to 50's, resulting in a pretty comfortable week (Figure 4)(Figure 5).

 

Slight Drought Improvement

Even with widespread below normal precipitation and above normal temperatures, the region continued to see a reduction in drought overall (Figure 6). The region saw just more than 3% increase, from 43.94% to 47%, in the percentage of area with no drought. The biggest improvements were seen in northern Minnesota and central Wisconsin.

 

Maturity Still Behind, Harvest Continues to Ramp Up

Corn and soybean maturity in most states were within just a few percent of the 2008-2012 average. Ohio and Indiana were the only states ahead of the 2008-2012 average, with their soybean crops 8% and 1% ahead respectively. Minnesota crops struggled the most within the region to get to maturity, with their corn crop 23% behind and soybean crop 17% behind the 5 year average.

Sep 30th Statistics	Corn				Soybeans
	% Mature		% Harvested		% Dropping Leaves		% Harvested
State	2013	2008-12	2013	2008-12	2013	2008-12	2013	2008-12
Illinois	71	73	13	34	66	69	10	15
Indiana	66	68	13	22	80	79	16	19
Iowa	61	76	5	16	51	79	5	21
Kentucky	87	92	36	56	49	71	4	14
Michigan	48	60	6	9	74	76	5	12
Minnesota	41	64	2	12	73	90	9	26
Missouri	79	84	26	47	39	47	3	6
Ohio	54	55	7	11	85	77	17	15
Wisconsin	43	52	3	8	52	74	3	12

 

No Severe Weather

Severe weather ramped down considerably to end September, as there were no reports of high winds, hail or tornadoes within the 9 state region (Figure 7).
 

-ACC-