February 1-7, 2002: A Quiet Start to February.

The first seven days of February were quiet after the end-of-January severe winter storm left the region near Detroit on the morning of the 1st. Most of the precipitation for the week was recorded on the morning of the 1st, and displays the track of the departing storm (Figure 7). A heavy band of 1 inch or greater precipitation totals extends from southern Missouri to northwestern Ohio, and a lighter, parallel band from Iowa to northern Michigan followed the path of an upper level disturbance trailing the surface low. Much of the northern band precipitation fell as snow (Figure 8), although the northern Great Lakes region did have some additional lake effect snow later in the week. The northern half of Minnesota, on the other hand, received less than 25% of normal precipitation for the week (Figure 9), and continued to become more dry. The U.S. Drought Monitor expanded the area of abnormally dry conditions to include most of northern and central Minnesota (Figure 10), National Drought Mitigation Center). Temperatures during the week were above normal in most of the Midwest (Figure 11), ranging from 4-8°F above normal in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan to slightly below normal in western Iowa, Missouri, and the southern edge of the Midwest.