Midwest Weekly Highlights - October 8-14, 2019

---

Stormy Missouri, Snowy Minnesota

Moderate to heavy rain in southern Missouri and southern Illinois led to precipitation amounts of 1-2 inches for the period (Figure 1).  Locally heavy amounts of more than 3 inches were reported in southwestern Missouri as well.  These amounts were more than double the normal amount for the period (Figure 2).  Drier than normal conditions were common across most of Wisconsin, northern Illinois, Indiana and Ohio.  Some areas of Michigan, eastern Wisconsin, Iowa and eastern Kentucky were wetter than normal, with more than twice the normal amount in some parts of western Iowa.

Meanwhile, colder temperatures in northwestern Minnesota led to the first significant snowfall of the season (Figure 3). Most of this snow fell through the morning of October 12 (Figure 4).  Amounts of 2-4 inches were reported, with locally heavier amounts.  Some of these reports included 7.5 inches in Sabin (Clay County), 7.0 inches in Otter Tail (Otter Tail County) and 7.0 inches near Georgetown (Clay County).
 

October Chill

Record high temperatures departed the region in full during the week, as only a few areas of Ohio, northeastern Minnesota and Kentucky were slightly above normal (Figure 5).  Most of Iowa, Missouri, Illinois and western and southern Minnesota were 2-5°F below normal.  Maximum temperatures were even colder across western Minnesota (Figure 6), with some spots 10°F or more below normal.  Most of the more than 130 daily temperature records were from record low maximum temperatures (Figure 7).
 

First Fall Frost/Freeze

An Arctic cold front brought freezing temperatures to most of the Midwest through the mornings of October 11 (Figure 8) and October 12 (Figure 9).  Some areas in Indiana and Ohio had their first freeze on October 13 (Figure 10).  Prior to this cold snap, the only area in the region with widespread frost was in northeastern Minnesota and parts of Michigan (Figure 11).  Only a few areas in southern Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, as well as urban areas in the southern Midwest were without their first freeze of the season.
 

Harvest Behind

The delayed harvest season remained slow across the Midwest with both corn (Figure 12) and soybeans (Figure 13) according to USDA NASS.  Every state in the Midwest except Kentucky was behind schedule.  Corn progress was more than 20 percent behind the five-year average in Missouri and more than 35 percent behind schedule in Illinois.  Wisconsin, Iowa and Illinois soybeans were all more than 20 percent behind, while Minnesota was a staggering 43 percent behind the five-year average.  While significant progress in corn maturity was reported over the past week, both corn maturity and soybeans dropping leaves were slowest on record (1995-2019) through the current week on a national level.
 

-BJP-