Temperature

Average temperatures were 3-6°F above normal for the week across a large swath of the region (Figure 1). Across southern Missouri, temperatures were up to 6-9°F above normal. To the north and east, temperatures were closer to normal across Michigan and northern Ohio.

Minimum temperatures were more varied (Figure 2). Across far southern Missouri and southern Kentucky, temperatures were generally 3-6°F above normal. Northern Missouri, much of Illinois, Indiana, northern Kentucky, and Ohio were near normal or slightly above, by 1-3°F. Parts of northern Ohio, Michigan, northern Wisconsin, and much of Minnesota were near to slightly below normal.

Maximum temperatures were above normal by 6-9°F across Missouri, southern Illinois, and Minnesota (Figure 3). Elsewhere, maximum temperatures were generally 3-6°F above normal. Across Michigan, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, and southern Wisconsin, maximum temperatures were closer to normal. In Houston, Missouri, a station with records dating back to 1893 recorded 90°F on October 7, the latest 90°F day of the calendar year since 1989.

Precipitation/Drought

Precipitation was lackluster across Minnesota, northern Michigan, and Michigan’s Upper Peninsula (UP), all of which reported areas of less than 30 percent of normal precipitation (Figure 4). Across Iowa, southern Wisconsin, northern Missouri, northern Illinois, northern Indiana, and Lower Michigan, precipitation was generally 125-200 percent of normal, with isolated greater anomalies. Precipitation was again below normal across the I-70 corridor from Missouri through southern Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Kentucky observed above-normal precipitation to the west and below-normal precipitation to the east.

Drought remained mostly unchanged from September 29 to October 6 (Figure 5). D2 (severe drought) expanded by just over 1 percent, the largest increase across all categories, mostly in Missouri and Michigan’s UP. D3 (extreme drought) also expanded slightly across southern Missouri. Kentucky saw increasingly dry conditions, with D0 (abnormally dry) and D1 (moderate drought) slightly expanding.