March 25-31, 2002: More Cool, Active Weather.

Weather continued to be active in the Ohio River Valley during the last week of March. Heavy rain occurred on the 25th and 26th, with amounts exceeding two inches in the lower Ohio Valley. This also coincided with the most significant snow storm of the season in a belt from central Illinois through central Indiana to northwestern Ohio; the snow fell under a trailing upper level low being the main surface low that brought rain to the Ohio Valley. Both bands are evident in the precipitation totals for the period March 25 to 31 (Figure 23). Precipitation exceeded 200% of normal in these regions, while the northwestern half of the Midwest again experienced less than 25% of normal precipitation (Figure 24). Substantial snow totals were evident for the week only in the Illinois to Ohio band, but in all but northern Indiana these represented the largest snowfall amounts of the season (Figure 25). Temperatures were a few degrees below normal in most of the region due to a cold first few days (Figure 26). However, a kidney shaped zone with the most negative temperature departures (10°F below normal) from central Illinois to Ohio corresponded with the snow covered area left by the storm earlier in the week (Figure 27). A record low of 9°F was set at the MRCC location of Champaign, IL, on the morning of March 27, after a 6.7 inch snow fall ended the previous day. Temperatures warmed and this snow pack disappeared by the end of the period. Abnormally dry status was completely removed from Kentucky, but this status was expanded in western Iowa (Figure 28, National Drought Mitigation Center). Further drying in Iowa and nearby places are causing increasingly frequent brush fires and allowing soil moisture to dry considerably before the growing season.