Temperature and Precipitation Anomalies.

The month of November started warm and wet and finished up cool and dry in the Midwest. Most of Minnesota, Wisconsin, northern and western Michigan, and parts of Iowa and Illinois received above normal precipitation (Figure 1), although far more fell in the first half of the month than the last half. Minnesota was by far the wettest state in the Midwest, with the state setting a new record state average precipitation total for November by an amount 10% larger than the previous record year. Eastern parts of the Midwest, especially in Ohio and Kentucky, were dry throughout the month. Overall, it was the 29th wettest November in 106 years. The central and eastern Midwest were warmer than normal until mid-month. However, cold air masses often settled into the western part of the region after storms exited, leaving the west-central and southwest Midwest cooler than normal. The entire Midwest was below normal for the second half of November, leading to the 28th coldest November for the region since records began in 1895. Missouri experienced its 7th coldest and Iowa its 13th coldest November due to both halves of the month being colder than normal in these states (Figure 2).

Extreme Events and Impacts.

A secondary cold front entering the Midwest on November 20 brought the intense temperatures gradients and other supporting conditions necessary for the lake-effect snow machine to really get going on November 20-21. While snow observations are more sparsely distributed than temperature or precipitation observations, several stations were caught in the most persistent snow belts and received between 1 and 2 feet of snow during this event (Figure 11). Grand Rapids, MI, set its all-time 24 hour snowfall record for the month of November with 11.5 inches. The two-day total exceeded 19 inches at Grand Rapids, and a cooperative station nearby received 21 inches of snow. In northern Michigan, 19 inches fell at Ironwood, and 18 inches fell at Marquette. Transportation was severely affected along the highways in southwestern and western Michigan, with roads closed at times. This was the same lake effect event that paralyzed Buffalo, NY, with over two feet of snow in a 12 hour period.

Other than this one lake-effect burst, the weather in November really lacked extremes. This was especially beneficial over the Thanksgiving Day holiday weekend, when no weather related flight delays were reported in the Midwest on either end of the most busy period of the year for air travel.