Midwest Weekly Highlights - April 1-9, 2004

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A quiet week in the Midwest.

The stormy weather the last week of March was followed by more than a week of dry, mild weather across the Midwest.  The only significant precipitation the first nine days of April was from southern Indiana through eastern Ohio (Figure 1).  Most of this rain came the first two days of the month as a cold front combined with a sluggish upper level low made its way eastward.  There was some other precipitation during the period, mostly scattered showers and thunderstorms.  Scattered heavy thunderstorms broke out along a warm front in central Illinois into central Indiana on April 7, with some isolated amounts of 0.50 inch or more. Scattered thunderstorms also popped up over southwestern Missouri on April 9.  Most of the region has adequate precipitation and soil moisture heading into the growing season, except for much of Minnesota, extreme western Wisconsin, and a small portion of northwest Missouri.  The U.S Drought Monitor (Figure 2) continues to show these areas in a moderate drought.  Precipitation over the last six months in Minnesota has been 50 to 75 percent of normal (Figure 3).

The temperature pattern for April 1-9 reflected the general upper air pattern (Figure 4).  Temperatures were cooler than normal over the southeastern half of the region, which was dominated by the upper level trough of low pressure most of the period.  Temperatures ranged from 0F to 4F degrees below normal southeast of a line from Detroit to St. Louis. Northwest of this line, temperatures ranged from 1F degree above normal in Illinois to 5F degrees above normal in northwestern Minnesota.   The continued mild weather in the northern Midwest contributed to rapid erosion of the remaining snowcover in Minnesota and Wisconsin.  The snow melt crest on the Mississippi River reached the Quad Cities area on April 8, a little earlier than normal. It usually arrives between April 10 and April 15. The river has been on a gradual rise since mid-March.