Midwest Overview - October 23-31, 2002

Much colder than normal weather dominated the entire Midwest that last 10 days of the month. Temperatures ranged from 12 degrees below normal in Minnesota to near normal in southeast Kentucky (Figure 1). Winter weather, which made an early appearance in the northern Midwest last week, was much in evidence again this period. Parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Iowa received significant snow. This was the 3rd coldest October on record for Minnesota, 4th coldest for Iowa, 7th coldest for Wisconsin, 8th coldest for Missouri, and the 8th coldest for the nine-state Midwest region. These rankings are based on data received through the end of October.

The coldest air of the season to date plunged into the Midwest on Tuesday, October 22. A low pressure system in the plains brought snow to Nebraska and South Dakota on October 23. This snow spread into Minnesota and Wisconsin on October 24-25. A large area of rain was associated with this system in Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and southern Michigan. The wintry conditions may have contributed to a plane crash in Minnesota on the morning of October 25. Minnesota Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife and daughter Wellstone, along with several of his campaign staff were traveling on a private plane in northern Minnesota. According to news reports the plane went down around 10:00 a.m. in light snow southeast of Eveleth, about 175 miles north of Minneapolis, with the loss of all on board. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

A similar weather system to the one earlier in the week developed on October 28 and brought 2 to 4 inches of snow to the northwest quarter of Iowa (Figure 2) and rain to the eastern two-thirds of the Midwest. The cloudy, wet weather hampered harvest activities, especially in the upper Midwest. The Minnesota Agricultural Statistics Service reported that soils were firm enough for the harvest to make progress on a few dry days near the western and southern portions of the state, and some areas have completed the soybean harvest. By contrast, saturated soils in the Central and East Central districts brought field activities to nearly a halt. It was reported that some farmers were adding tracks to combines, and many expect to have to wait until the ground freezes to get into the fields again. There were four to six days suitable for field work for the week ending October 28 in the area from Missouri through Ohio. This allowed harvest activities there to continue with few interruptions. Harvest of crops in Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Kentucky, Illinois, and Missouri was on or ahead of schedule as of October 28.

Cloudy, cool weather finished out the month. Cold high pressure dominated the Midwest the last three days of the month.  Maximum temperatures on October 31 were much below normal across the entire Midwest. Daytime highs ranged from the upper 20s in northern Minnesota to mid 40s along the Ohio River, making for a chilly evening for Halloween "trick or treaters" Temperatures for October ranged from 9 degrees below normal in northwestern Minnesota to 2 degrees above normal in far southeastern Kentucky (Figure 3). Precipitation was variable across the Midwest, heaviest across Kentucky and in a band from northwest Iowa through the Michigan U.P. An area from central Illinois through northern Indiana, Ohio, and most of lower Michigan received only 50 to 75 percent of normal precipitation (Figure 4).