May 16-22, 2001:

The week of May 16-22 was one of the wettest for the entire Midwest since last Fall. While some of the saturated areas of the northwestern Midwest benefitted from a week with warm and somewhat normal precipitation conditions, drought areas of the southern and eastern portions of the region received copious amounts of rain, from 1-3 inches generally to 4-6 inches in Michigan, Ohio, and eastern Kentucky (Figure 18). More than half of the Midwest received precipitation amounts exceeding 200% of normal for the period (Figure 19). During May 15 and 16, a warm front stalled over Michigan and Ohio, bringing flooding rains to both states. A stationary boundary then settled back to the south, and a series of mesoscale convective systems ranged across the dry areas of the southern Midwest for the next several days. The week started at temperatures very much above average, but it ended with below normal temperatures, so the weekly average ended up being slightly above normal in most of the Midwest (Figure 20). The week was generally unsettled, with scattered reports of severe weather in many Midwestern states. One good news item, though, was the decline in Mississippi River level towards flood stage all along the upper stretch of the river.