January 2005
Midwest Overview - January, 2005
A Wet and Wild January for the Midwest
The month of January 2005 will go down in Midwestern lore for the multitude of extremes experienced. The biggest single damaging event during this period was a heavy ice storm during the first week of the month that severely impacted the central Midwest. This storm was part of a series of heavy rain events during the first half of the month led to major flooding in Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Including the impacts of the Dec 23-24 snow event in these states, losses in the mid-December to late January period could reach $500 M, according to the Red Cross. Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio were designated as recipients of federal snow emergency funds, Indiana was declared a federal disaster area on January 21, and Ohio documented enough loses ($268.5 M) to be declared a federal disaster area in early February. If it were not for a quite dry second half of the month, things could have been much worse, especially regarding flooding.
A wide swath from southwestern Missouri, through southern Illinois, and into all of Indiana and Ohio received more than 6 inches of precipitation for the month (Figure 1). Almost all of the Midwest received more than 1 inch of precipitation, except for some of the dry areas of western Iowa and southwestern Minnesota. Compared to normal, though, the driest area was the Upper Peninsula of Michigan east of Marquette, MI, which only received 50-75% of normal monthly precipitation amounts (Figure 2). The southern half of the Midwest received more than 200% of normal precipitation, with a wide swath exceeding 300%. Three first order locations set new records for January precipitation total: St. Louis, MO (9.01 inches), Mansfield, OH (6.08 inches), and Lansing, MI (4.39 inches). Indianapolis (9.39 inches) and Cleveland (5.92 inches) both had their 3rd wettest January. The Midwest as a whole had its 6th wettest January since 1895, with Ohio (4th wettest), Indiana (5th wettest), Missouri (5th wettest), and Illinois (6th wettest) leading the way.
Snowfall for the month was considerably more widespread than earlier in winter. One major storm impacted Chicago, Milwaukee, and Detroit with a foot of snow, while many clipper systems distributed lighter amounts regularly to the northern half of the Midwest (Figure 3). The swath through these cities is quite noticeable on the map of snow fall departures from normal (Figure 3a). The most prodigious snow production occurred in the Arrowhead of Minnesota, north of Duluth, where amounts more than 30 inches above normal were recorded. This snow occurred in response to several episodes of strong northeast flow off Lake Superior. Because of the unusual frequency of this wind direction, the eastern portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan was 15-25 inches below normal in snow fall this January. Of the snowier places, Duluth, MN, had its 2nd snowiest January on record (45.7 inches), while Cleveland had its 3rd snowiest (32.8 inches).
The Midwest experienced considerable oscillations in temperature this month. Substantial numbers of both maximum and minimum temperature records were established throughout the Midwest, even though the average departures for the month were within a few degrees of normal over most of the Midwest (Figure 4). Only the south-central edge of the Midwest had significant positive temperature departures of 4-8°F. If the first half and the second half of the month are separated, it is easy to see why they were different. January 1-14 was dominated by an upper air pattern with a very deep trough near the West Coast, sending storms northeastward into the Midwest with ample warmth and access to Gulf of Mexico moisture (Figure 5a, Climate Diagnostics Center - CDC). During the latter half of the month, a split jet flow largely isolated the Midwest from Gulf moisture while allowing extremely cold air to enter the region from the north (Figure 5b, CDC). Toward the end of the first half of the month, temperatures reached record maximums in the upper 60s in northern Ohio on the 13th. Just a short time latter, on the morning of the 17th, it was -54°F in Embarrass, MN. A regional swing of more than 120°F in just a few days illustrates the volatility of January 2005 in the Midwest.