Midwest Weekly Highlights - March 15-21, 2018

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More Dry Weather

Dry conditions were common across the northern half of the Midwest this week, with little to no precipitation falling across Wisconsin and Michigan (Figure 1).  Despite modest rainfall in the southern third of the region, most of Kentucky, Indiana and Ohio also had below-normal precipitation (Figure 2).  Several wetter areas were found across central Missouri and western Iowa, where up to 1.5 inches fell.  Most of this precipitation fell through the morning of March 20 (Figure 3).  Snowfall was mostly limited to Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky, where 2-5 inches fell (Figure 4).  This was the far western part of a nor’easter that brought more than a foot of snow to southern Pennsylvania (Figure 5). In total, several dozen daily snowfall (Figure 6) and precipitation (Figure 7) records were broken in the Midwest.
 

Continued Cold

Most of the Midwest remained colder than normal for a second consecutive week (Figure 8).  Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Michigan were all 1-4°F below normal.  Parts of Wisconsin, southeastern Iowa, eastern Missouri and northern Kentucky were also below normal.  Near-normal temperatures were common across most of southern Wisconsin, northern Iowa and Minnesota, with several areas of slightly above-normal temperatures in southeastern Missouri, northwestern Iowa and northern Minnesota.
 

Drought Improvement Continues in Missouri

Wet weather across the Midwest during February and early March has decreased abnormally dry and drought conditions to less than 15 percent of the region as of the March 20 U.S. Drought Monitor (Figure 9).  The most drastic change has occurred in Missouri, where more than 60 percent of the state was in drought as of February 13 (Figure 10), while less than ten percent of the state was in drought as of March 20 (Figure 11).  Abnormally dry conditions across southern Missouri and central Minnesota were eliminated in this update, along with a small decrease in drought coverage in central Missouri.  Abnormally dry conditions were added to northeastern Wisconsin into the U.P. of Michigan as drier conditions continue to prevail.
 

-BJP-