March 18-24, 2002: More Cold and Rainy Days.

The effects of the heavy rain events at the end of the last week were compounded by more rain in the southeastern Midwest during the period March 18-24. An additional 3 inches or more of rain fell upon southern Missouri and southern and eastern Kentucky during the week (Figure 18), with the zone of 200% or greater of normal rain covering the entire state of Kentucky (Figure 19). The northwestern two-thirds of the Midwest received relatively small amounts of precipitation compared to normal, except for snow from an upper level disturbance crossing the upper Midwest on the 21st and 22nd (Figure 20). Temperatures ranged from near normal in the eastern Midwest to more than 10°F below normal in the western Midwest during the March 18-24 period (Figure 21). The large amounts of rain over the previous period and the beginning of this week caused a significant erosion of the southeastern Midwest drought region in the U.S. Drought Monitor (Figure 22, National Drought Mitigation Center), but the northwestern Midwest abnormally dry zones remained.