October 13-20, 2000

Cool conditions gave way at mid-month to a very warm and dry second half of October in the Midwest. A weak cold front began moving out of the Central Plains on October 13th triggering some showers and thunderstorms. Rainfall from these storms was heaviest in a band through west-central Missouri, with a few locations receiving in excess of two inches. Weak high pressure built in behind this system and kept the northern portions of the Midwest sunny with seasonable temperatures. A low pressure wave developed on the front late on October 14th in Oklahoma, and it brought rain to Missouri and southern Illinois on October 15th and early on October 16th, and to Indiana and Ohio on October 16-17. After a low pressure system left the region on the 18th, there were three days with virtually no rain in the region, and only one weak low pressure system and warm frontal passage occurred at the end of the period on the 23rd and 24th. The central longitudes of the Midwest, and the northern portions of Minnesota and Wisconsin received only a small percentage of normal precipitation. Temperatures ranged during the week of Oct 17-24 from 10 Deg F above normal in the western Midwest to 5 Deg F above normal in the eastern Great Lakes region (Figure 9).