August 2004
Midwest Overview - August, 2004
Unusually Cold, Extremely Wet
August 2004 was much colder than normal and wetter than normal. Rainfall across the region was highly variable, with very heavy rainfall acoss the central third of the region, but drier than normal conditions across the northern third of the Midwest. August 2004 was the 3rd coldest and 22nd wettest in the Midwest since 1895.
For the middle part of the month, the unseasonably cold weather was the big story. The northern and western portions of the region had the largest depatures from normal. Average temperatures ranged from 7F to 8F below normal in northwestern Minnesota to 1F below normal in Ohio (Figure 1). Minnesota experienced its coldest August on record with an average daily temperature of 61.2F, eclipsing the old record of 61.9F set in 1977. Iowa and Wisconsin had their 3rd coldest August on record, Illinois and Missouri the 5th coldest, Kentucky and Michigan the 7th coldest, and Ohio the 13th coldest. Note: Averages and rankings are based on preliminary data and may change as more data becomes available. Record low minimum and record low maximum temperatures were set almost daily between August 7 and August 21.
The cold weather heavily impacted agriculture across Minnesota. Crops had already been lagging two to four week behind normal because of the cool summer, and the August frost in many areas, especially north of Interstate 94, decimated crops. Damages have been preliminarily estimated at more than $100 million. Some estimates indicated that 30 to 90 percent of the soybean crop was gone north of I-94. However, the amount and severity of damage varied by county and by crop. In northern Minnesota in particular, a killing frost hit in a number of areas as temperatures dropped well into the 20s. Crop conditions deteriorated in the two weeks of cold weather. As of August 29, the Minnesota corn crop was reported as 16 percent Very Poor to Poor, 35 percent Fair, and 49 percent Good to Excellent. This compared to conditions as of August 8 of 11 percent Very Poor to Poor, 23 percent Fair, and 64 percent Good to Excellent. Changes were more dramatic in soybeans, which went from 9 percent Very Poor to Poor on August 8 to 21 percent on August 29th, 27 percent Fair to 35 percent Fair, and 64 percent Good to Excellent on August 8 to only 44 percent on August 29. Dry beans went from only 6 percent of the crop in Very Poor to Poor condition on August 8 to 45 percent on August 29.
Afer a dry start to the month, the central third of the Midwest experienced a sequence of heavy rain storms during the last week that caused widespread flooding and flash flooding. Rainfall for the month ranged from 200 percent of normal in a bullseye centered on northern Missouri to less than 75 percent of normal across Minnesota and Wisconsin (Figure 2). In the central Midwest, several locations received more than 8 inches of rain for the month. Payson, IL in Adams county totaled 14.81 inches of rain for August, with 12 inches coming between August 25 and August 28. While the southern two-thirds of the region had adequate to excessive rain, the northern third received only 60 to 75 percent of normal rainfall, adding to the woes of agricultural producers already hard hit by the record cold.
For the summer period (June 1 to August 31), temperatures
ranged from 1F - 2F below normal in Ohio to 5F below normal in
northwestern Minnesota (Figure 3).
For the nine-state Midwest region this was the 6th coldest summer on
record. It was also the 6th coldest for Minnesota,
Wisconsin, and Indiana, and the 5th coldest for Illinois.
Precipitation for Summer 2004 was generally above normal south of an
Omaha-Dubuque-Detroit line, with the heaviest rain in western and
northwestern Missouri (Figure 4).
North of this area, summer precipitation was about 65 to 75 percent of
normal.