Midwest Weekly Highlights - February 1-7, 2014

---

Above Normal Precipitation Across Southern Half of Midwest

Significant precipitation throughout the first week of February produced widespread totals that were 200% to 400% of normal across much of the southern half of the region (Figure 1). On the other hand, the northern states of Minnesota and Wisconsin received very little precipitation, resulting in precipitation that was significantly below normal (0% to 25% of normal). The highest precipitation totals were in Kentucky, where at least 1.5" fell across the whole state, reaching upwards of 4" to 5" in southwest Kentucky (Figure 2). Portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin received no precipitation throughout the week.

Much of the above normal precipitation in the region came from a wide swath across the central Midwest of snow totals ranging from 5" to 12.5" (Figure 3). For many locations, the significant weekly snowfall totals were at least 8" greater than normal early February snowfall (Figure 4). A majority of the snow for the central Midwest fell on February 4th (Figure 5) as a storm system (Figure 6) made its way across the region, bringing not only snowfall, but some freezing rain to southern parts of the region as well. Portions of eastern Kentucky also received heavy rainfall in addition to the ice, creating flash flooding of creeks and streams in this region. The storm activity throughout the first week of February was mostly confined to the central and southern Midwest. Much of the upper Midwest received little to no snowfall, representing snowfall departures of 2" to 10" less than normal for these areas.
 

Widespread Below Normal Temperatures

Continuing the trend from the majority of this winter, temperatures were well below normal across the Midwest during the first week of February (Figure 7). Largest departures of 17°F to 20°F below normal occurred across northern Missouri and in portions of southern Iowa and western Illinois. The only areas with temperatures close to normal were eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. Temperatures averaging 0°F or less during the week occurred in northern Minnesota and Wisconsin (Figure 8). Widespread average temperatures less than freezing occurred across the remainder of the region, with the exception of eastern Kentucky. Average minimum temperatures ranged from -25°F to 30°F throughout the region (Figure 9), representing below normal minimum temperatures for much of the region with the exception of eastern portions of Kentucky and Ohio, which were slightly above normal in terms of minimum temperature (Figure 10).

-MW-