Midwest Weekly Highlights - November 1-7, 2016

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Warm Start to November

Temperatures were well above normal across the Midwest as record and near-record temperatures were common (Figure 1).  Areas in the Ohio Valley and Michigan were 7-9°F above normal, while the rest of the region was more than 9°F above normal. Iowa and Minnesota were the two warmest states, where temperatures 12-16°F above normal were common. Maximum temperatures were even warmer across the region, with most of Minnesota, northern Iowa and northern Wisconsin 17-20°F above normal (Figure 2). Temperatures reached the 70s and low 80s across most of the region during the afternoons of November 1 (Figure 3) and November 2 (Figure 4).

More than 500 daily high maximum temperature records were broken in the region during the period. From November 1-3, 300 maximum temperature records occurred, mainly across the southern half of the region.  Over 150 of these records occurred on November 2 alone (Figure 5).  Maximum temperature records continued to fall farther north on November 5-7.  Both Minnesota and Wisconsin recorded around 70 new records each during the three-day period.  High-minimum temperature records were also common, as nearly 250 new records were set during the week.  Many of these records occurred on the mornings of November 2 (Figure 6) and November 3 (Figure 7) in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio and Missouri.
 

Drier Weather

The warmer weather was accompanied by dry conditions across most of the region (Figure 8).  Most of the Ohio River Valley and the Upper Midwest received less than an inch of precipitation for the period.  Only a few areas in Missouri, Illinois, northern Indiana and southern Lower Michigan had above-normal precipitation, mostly from rainfall through the morning of November 3 (Figure 9).  Some strong storms also occurred on November 2, and caused hail and wind damage in Missouri and Illinois (Figure 10).  Meanwhile, less than a quarter of the normal amount of precipitation fell across most of Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Iowa, Kentucky, southern Indiana and Ohio (Figure 11).
 

First Fall Freezes Nearing Record Late Territory

Continued warm weather in the Midwest left many areas in the southern half of the region without their first freeze of the Fall season (Figure 12).  Stations along the upper Mississippi River and southern Wisconsin had also not received a freeze.  The latest freeze dates on record at many southern Midwest locations are during the first half of November (Figure 13).
 

-BJP-