Midwest Overview - June, 2004

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June 2004 continued the wetter-than-normal pattern of May for the first half of the month before abruptly changing to a drier pattern in the last portion of the month. For the month as a whole, the Midwest turned out to be drier than normal, the 43rd driest and 28th coolest June since 1895. The axis of heaviest rain was still located across northeastern Iowa, southern Wisconsin, and northern Indiana and Ohio, where monthly totals exceeded 5 inches (Figure 1). These areas, along with western Missouri and eastern Kentucky, ended up the month as the only places with precipitation totals above normal (Figure 2). While this band exceeded 200% of normal in the first half of the month (Figure 3), almost all of the Midwest was well below normal for the second half (Figure 4). Only northern Minnesota was well below normal precipitation for the entire month, at less than 50% for June, and started to slip back into an abnormally dry state. Because of their ample rains in June and their stupendous rains in May, Michigan tied the record and Wisconsin exceeded the record for combined May-June precipitation total.

Most of the Midwest started the month warmer than normal, but ended to month cooler than normal due to the incursion of cool, dry air masses into the region during that period. Every state in the Midwest was below normal temperature for June except Kentucky, which was near normal. The northwestern and western edges of the Midwest were 3 to 5°F below normal for the month, while the southeastern Midwest was near normal (Figure 5). Between the severe events of late April, May and early June, all Midwest states except Minnesota were the location of presidential disaster declarations during the severe weather season.