November 1-6, 2001

The first six days of November were very quiet in the Midwest. The most interesting feature of the period was an extensive display of the aurora borealis on the evening of November 5. The atmosphere above the region was bombarded by energetic particles from a solar flare first seen on the sun the previous day. Every state in the Midwest reported sightings of green and red moving lights, as did much of the central and eastern United States. The aurora was visible over a widespread area due to the dominance of high pressure over the region during the beginning of November. Only one weak cold front with hardly any discernable temperature change passed through the region on the 2nd. The region was mostly free of significant precipitation (Figure 5). Only southwestern Missouri and a small area south of Lake Michigan received above normal precipitation for November 1-6 (Figure 6), while most areas to the south receiving some rain were still well below 50% of normal for the period (Figure 7). The air mass behind the cold front was actually from the Pacific Ocean, so it quickly moderated due to solar heating under the clear skies of the high pressure center. Temperature averages for the November 1 to 6 period were more than 10°F above normal in the western portion of the region, but only a few degrees above normal in the east, where cool air persisted longer into the week (Figure 8). The temperatures for the period reached a peak on the 6th, with the northwestern quadrant of the region experiencing maximum temperatures 15 to 25°F above normal (Figure 9). Record high temperatures were set in Minneapolis, MN, on the 5th and St. Cloud, MN, on the 6th. The warm spell continued past the end of the period, and dryness was becoming an increasing concern in the western Midwest, where abnormally dry areas expanded (Figure 10), and in the Appalachians, were some locations were troubled by forest fires.