Midwest Weekly Highlights - November 17-23, 2019

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Temperatures Slowly Rebound

After an exceptionally cold first two weeks of November, temperatures rebounded closer to normal across the Midwest (Figure 1).  Areas in the Ohio River Valley were still below normal, with some areas 3-5°F below normal.  Meanwhile, most of Missouri, Iowa Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan were within 2°F of normal.  Warmer temperatures were observed in Minnesota and western Iowa. These warmer temperatures allowed snowfall from the previous weeks to melt across the region (Figure 2).
 

Some Wetter Areas

Parts of the Upper Midwest and in the southern third of the Midwest were fairly wet during the week (Figure 3).  Amounts of 1-2 inches fell in southern Missouri, southern Illinois and western Kentucky.  Areas in northern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota and western Wisconsin were also wet.  More than twice the normal amount fell in northern Iowa, southeastern Minnesota and the Bootheel of Missouri (Figure 4).  Drier weather was observed across northern Missouri, central Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Lower Michigan.  Most of these areas had less than half the normal amount, with some areas in Ohio, Indiana and southeastern Lower Michigan had less than a quarter of the amount. Snowfall was largely limited to the far northern reaches of Minnesota, Wisconsin and the U.P. of Michigan (Figure 5).  Amounts of 3-5 inches were reported, with isolated amounts over 6 inches.
 

Extreme Winter So Far

According to the Accumulated Winter Season Severity Index (AWSSI), most of the Midwest has had an extreme start to winter conditions (Figure 6).  Only the traditionally colder Minnesota, northern Wisconsin and U.P. of Michigan have areas that are in the severe or average category of AWSSI.  Record values were recorded in several cities, including Dubuque, IA, Madison, WI, Milwaukee, WI and Detroit, MI.
 

-BJP-