January 8-14, 2004
Midwest Weekly Highlights - January 8-14, 2004
Dry and Warm in the Western Midwest, Snowy in the Great Lakes
The second week of January started with calm and warm weather over much of the region, but ended with some wintery conditions in the Great Lakes. Except for some rain and high elevation snow in eastern Kentucky on the 9th, significant precipitation was limited to northern Minnesota and Wisconsin and Michigan (Figure 1). Most of the Midwest received less than 25% of normal precipitation for the week (Figure 2), giving no relief to the drought areas of the Midwest. However, snow fall in northern Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and most of Michigan (Figure 3) went a great ways towards helping solve this season’s snow drought, providing enough snow cover for most winter recreation pursuits. However, dry conditions and much higher than normal temperatures (Figure 4) continued to keep snow covers well below normal for the year in large areas of Minnesota, Wisconsin and in the central Midwest. Mason City had a record high of 48°F on the 11th.
Floods Subside as Upper Air Patterns Shift
Due to the heavy rains on frozen ground in the Ohio Valley last week, flooding took place along many of the main regional rivers that continued into the new week. The worst damage was noted in southwestern Ohio, where more than 600 homes had flooded basements in Hamilton County alone. Flooding in Indiana was also quite extensive along the Wabash, White, and East Fork of the White River. The East Fork reached levels of more than 12 feet above flood stage (Figure 5, USGS). The Ohio River rose to more than 5 feet above flood stage in southern Indiana (Figure 6, USGS), and 3 feet above flood stage in southern Illinois (Figure 7, USGS). Fortunately, no further significant precipitation fell in the Ohio Valley during the period, due to a shift in the upper air pattern. A strong split jet flow formed during the week, so that by the end of the period, the subtropical jet was south of the U.S., while the polar front jet went far north into Canada in western North America, and plunged southward over the Great Lakes (Figure 8, College of DuPage). Back-to-back clipper systems passed through the upper Great Lakes region, and lake effect snow were especially pronounced in northern Michigan after each passage (Figure 9, NWS). Snow depth in the UP of Michigan, while not above normal, was quite sufficient for snowmobile use throughout the area (Figure 10, NWS).
The heaviest snow occurred at the end of the period, when a strong low pressure center traveled into the Great Lakes region from the northwest along the polar jet stream. The snow fall largely occurred on the 13th and 14th, with much of the snow recorded on the morning of the 15th (Figure 11). Snow amounts of 6-12 inches were commonplace, and both Green Bay, WI, and Detroit, MI, reported substantial numbers of traffic accidents and other impacts. In the norther Detroit suburbs, totals of more than 10 inches of snow were reported, and one person died in an auto accident and four people died due to snow shoveling. The period ended with a substantial snow pack across the northern and northeastern Midwest, but a considerable lack of snow in southern Minnesota and Wisconsin, all of Iowa, and northern parts of Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio that would normally have a snow pack at this time of year (Figure 12). Winds during the storm caused a plane to slide off a runway at Midway Airport in Chicago, and detached 15 ice fisherman from the mainland, requiring their rescue by the Coast Guard.
Drought Impacts Missouri River
Drought has continued to be an important issue in Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin, and parts of Iowa and Missouri (Figure 13, National Drought Mitigation Center). In addition, drought is at severe to extreme levels in much of the Missouri River basin, including a multi-year drought in the Rocky Mountains locations that feed much of their snow melt into the Missouri River reservoir system. On the 11th and 12th, discharge along the Missouri reached levels that endangered the drinking water intakes of Kansas City, Missouri. Despite drought induced low water levels in the upstream reservoirs, the Army Corps of Engineers opened up the gates so as to provide enough water to keep Kansas City from losing its primary water resource. The Missouri Basin storage system storage is now 16 million acre feet below normal, or 70% of normal storage. Due to the lack of flow and poor prospects for flow in 2004 (both due to drought and environmental decisions), the two main companies that run barges on the Missouri have announced that they are discontinuing this service, impacting the movement of bulk goods like grain and fertilizer.