Midwest Overview - December, 2002

December 2002 was pretty active in the southern and southeastern Midwest, but very quiet in the northern Midwest and Great Lakes. Conditions ranged from a substantial outbreak of severe weather with two killer tornadoes in Missouri on the 17th, to a large winter storm in the southern Midwest just a week later on the 24th. Meanwhile, Iowa experienced its 2nd driest December since 1895, and locations in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan were 20-30 inches below normal in snowfall for the month. The precipitation map for December indicates clearly the position of the storm track from southern Missouri through the Ohio Valley (Figure 1). The dry swath was located to the north, starting in the Kansas City area and proceeding through Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and northern Michigan, states receiving less than 50% of normal precipitation (Figure 2). This translates to a woeful snow season in these areas. (Figure 3), potentially impacting crops through a lack of soil moisture recharge and also strongly impacting snow-dependent winter recreational activities. While snow amounts fell at rates hundreds of percent above normal in the southern Midwest, the normally snowy northern Midwest received less than 50% of normal amounts in most locations (Figure 4). Temperatures in the dry areas to the northwest were 2-10°F above normal, while the areas under the storm track were a few degrees below normal (Figure 5). Minnesota had its 10th warmest December on record. The dryness and warmth contributed to a substantial increase in the areal coverage and magnitude of drought in the Midwest (Figure 6, National Drought Mitigation Center). Overall, the Midwest had its 45th driest and 28th warmest December since 1895.