Midwest Overview - November, 2003

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November 2003 was the 7th wettest November in the Midwest for 109 years. Large portions of the region received 4-8 inches of rain, including a band from southwestern Iowa, through southeastern Wisconsin, to central Michigan (Figure 1). Southeastern Missouri, southern Illinois and Indiana, and Kentucky are also 150-200 percent of normal (Figure 2) This was a tremendous change from previous months when dryness was more dominant. Michigan had its 3rd wettest November and Illinois and Indiana their 8th wettest. However, the extreme drought areas of the Midwest in southeastern Minnesota and northwestern Missouri just missed the heavy precipitation. In the northern Midwest, snow has been falling well in Minnesota and northwestern Wisconsin and Michigan, with November totals exceeding a foot in a number of places in this band (Figure 3). The southern edge of the snow zone, however, is well below normal snowfall for the time of year (Figure 4). Temperatures were largely above normal in the southeastern two-thirds of the Midwest, with anomalies from 2-5°F above normal (Figure 5). Only northwestern Minnesota was appreciably below normal in temperature.