June 20-30, 2001:

Much of the northern Midwest enjoyed a reprieve from the wet weather that has plagued this area since the late spring during the last third of the month, June 20-30. Rainfall in Minnesota, the northern half of Iowa, and most of Wisconsin was less than 50 percent of normal for the period (Figure 21). The focus of the rainfall was in eastern Kansas and western Missouri, where training thunderstorms along a quasi-stationary frontal boundary dropped more than five inches of rain on already saturated ground (Figure 22). Kansas City reported 5.18 inches of rain for the week and Independence 4.91 inches. A number of other locations in western Missouri reported three to four inches of rain for the period. The heavy rain resulted in urban street flooding in Kansas City and widespread flash flooding.

The cold front finally pushed through the Midwest by the morning of Friday, June 22. High pressure built into the Midwest over the weekend, bringing dry and cooler than normal weather to the region. Late in the month, a slow, westward-moving upper level low pressure system brought scattered showers and thunderstorms to the western and southern portions of the Midwest. Most of this activity occurred in southern Missouri and southern Kentucky, and the storms produced copious amounts of rain in some areas. Showers and thunderstorms were widely scattered to isolated further north into Illinois and Indiana. Temperatures for the period June 20-30 averaged 2-4°F below normal across most of Illinois and Missouri, while they were 2 to 6°F above normal in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and the northern portions of Michigan (Figure 23).