Temperature

Temperatures were generally 5-10°F below normal for the period (Figure 1). Departures were most pronounced over Kentucky, southern Missouri, eastern Ohio, and southern Wisconsin, though the entire region was below normal for the week.

Minimum temperatures were slightly more anomalous. Across southern Missouri, Kentucky, and northeastern Ohio, minimum temperatures averaged up to 12°F below normal (Figure 2). For most of the region, minimum temperatures were 5-10°F below normal.

Maximum temperatures remained generally 3-6°F below normal for most of the region (Figure 3). Departures were slightly less pronounced west of the Mississippi River.

Precipitation

Precipitation was scant this week. In Illinois, Indiana, western Kentucky, western Ohio, Iowa, and Missouri, there were vast areas with only 0-25 percent of normal precipitation (Figure 4). Precipitation was most plentiful across the far north, particularly along Lake Superior in Wisconsin, Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and the west coast of Michigan. Across much of the region, any precipitation that did fall was observed as snowfall, with roughly two feet of lake effect snow along the coastlines of Michigan and Wisconsin (Figure 5).

With little in the way of major precipitation, drought remained largely unchanged. There were minor degradations made across all categories from January 13 to January 20 (Figure 6). There was a slight improvement in D0 (abnormally dry) for the Upper Midwest, but this was offset by increasingly dry conditions across the southern parts of the region.