Midwest Overview - October 16-22, 2002

Winter paid an early visit to the upper Midwest as heavy snow blanketed parts of central Minnesota and northern Wisconsin.  Much cooler than normal but dry weather across the remainder of the Midwest allowed harvest activities to continue at a rapid pace.

Precipitation across the Midwest this week was highly variable this week (Figure 1). A strong front led the advance of cold air into the Midwest on October 15.  While the front moved through most of the region with little precipitation, it interacted with a strong east coast storm to bring badly needed rain to eastern Ohio.  Precipitation the remainder of the week was limited to pre-frontal showers and thunderstorms in northern Missouri into central Illinois on October 18 and the early snows in Minnesota and Wisconsin October 19-21.  A series of low pressure systems brought snow to the upper Midwest beginning on October 19, with most of the accumulation occuring October 20-21.  Six to nine inches of snow fell in a narrow band from Long Prairie, MN to Rice Lake, WI to Rhinelander, WI (Figure 2). This was within a larger area or one to four inches of snow.   Several locations set records for daily record snowfalls including Rhinelander with 6.0 inches, breaking the oldrecord of 4.0 inches; and Wausau with 7.8 inches, breaking the old record of 3.0 inches and also setting the mark as the second snowiest October day on record (Figure 3). The snowfall and wet weather curtailed harvest activities in Minnesota and Wisconsin this week. Corn harvest in Minnesota 33 percent complete as of October 21, compared to a 5-year average of 60 percent.  Soybean harvest was 76 percent complete, compared to a 5-year average of 94 percent.  In Wisconsin corn harvest was 91 percent complete, with yields expected to be above average.  Soybean harvest was 53 percent complete.  Temperatures this week ranged from 4 degrees below average in eastern Ohio to 14 degrees below average in northwestern Minnesota (Figure 4).  The cool, dry weather across the remainder of the Midwest allowed harvest activities to continue with generally 5 to 6 days suitable for field work. In Illinois, for example, corn harvest was 50 percent complete, which is the 5-year average. Soybean harvest was 84 percent complete, compared to a 5-year average of 80 percent.