Midwest Overview - November 22-30, 2002

During November 22-30, the Midwest was not hit directly by any major storms. However, systems moving to the south and north of the region were strong enough to have some significant effects nonetheless, especially in the lake-effect snow belts. Reenforcing cold air arrived after a low center pulled away at the beginning of the period. Most of the precipitation for the week (Figure 1) was associated with a strong low pressure center moving west to east across the southern U.S. on the 25th and 26th. Only lake effect belts experienced near-normal precipitation amounts for the period (Figure 1a). Much of the Upper Peninsula snow during the period (Figure 2) fell during the storm passage, as a strong northerly wind passed over Lake Superior. Marquette, MI, received 15 inches of snow from November 25-27. For the November 22-30 period, Hurley, WI, received a total of 21.5 inches, Marquette received 19.0 inches, and Ironwood, MI, received 18.6 inches. Temperatures were 3-6°F below normal in most of the region (Figure 3), ameliorating slightly towards the end of the month as a very strong low pressure center traveled north of the Great Lakes (Figure 3a). Very impressive lake effect bands covered much of Michigan and parts of Indiana and Ohio on the 30th (Figure 3b), as fierce winds howled across the region. Because of the extreme dryness in the western half of the Midwest, drought continued to expand in spatial coverage and intensity (Figure 4, National Drought Mitigation Center).