June 10-16, 2005
Midwest Weekly Highlights - June 10-16, 2005
Dry
Weather Persists in Upper Midwest, but Rains Come to Some Central
Portions
Two weather systems brought significant rain to parts of the Midwest,
alleviating some of the short-term drought concerns in those areas that
received the rain. However, an area from north central
Illinois northeastward through southern Wisconsin into western
Michigan, and much of Ohio received little significant rainfall this
week and remain very dry (Figure 1).
Through the
first half of June, precipitation pattern across the Midwest was very
much a feast or famine picture (Figure 2).
Rainfall has been
well above normal across much of Missouri, western Iowa, most of
Minnesota and the northern two thirds of Wisconsin. Southern
lower Michigan, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and western
Kentucky have
also received normal or above normal rainfall. Sandwiched in
between these areas are areas which have received less than 50 percent
of normal June rainfall. A substantial portion of the central
Midwest was still depicted as abnormally dry in the U.S. Drought
Monitor (Figure 3),
but there was some reduction in the Moderate
category because of the rain this week. The lack of
rain in June compounded by the dry May in much of the region have
agricultural producers concerned about the progress of the corn and
soybean crops. Fortunately, temperatures this week were near
to
below normal in the western half of the region after the hot weather
the week before (Figure 4), lessening
any heat stress on the crops there. However, temperatures in
Michigan through northern Ohio averaged 4F to 6F above normal
Arlene
Helps Lower Ohio Valley
Region
Tropical Storm Arlene, the first named storm of the 2005 Atlantic
hurricane
season, came ashore along the Gulf Coast near the western Florida
Panhandle on June 11 (Figure 5).
The remnants of Arlene
chugged
slowly northward the next two days, and brought much needed rain to
western Kentucky, southern and southeastern Illinois, much of
Indiana, western Ohio, and southern Michigan. The
rain was heaviest in southern Indiana and extreme southeastern
Illinois, where a number of locations recorded amounts from 2.00 to
2.50 inches of rain (Figure 6). By the morning of
June 13 the
remnants of Arlene were located over southern Michigan.
Cold
Front Brings Round of
Severe Weather, Beneficial Rain
A vigorous upper level wave and associated cold front located in the
central U.S. on June 13 (Figure 7).
During the course of the
day thunderstorms developed ahead of the cold front, prompting the
issuance of a number of severe thunderstorm and tornado watches in the
Midwest. Storms also developed in Minnesota and northern
Iowa, close to the low pressure center. By late afternoon, two distinct
areas of thunderstorms were evident on the visible satellite image of
the Midwest. (Figure 8, COD).
A
northern line of
storms had moved out of Missouri into central Illinois (Figure 9,
NWS). A second line extended from southwestern Missouri to
central Oklahoma. Damaging winds and large accompanied the
first line of storms as they moved out of Missouri and into Illinois,
and there were numerous reports of power lines down and tree
damage. These storms weakened as they moved into Indiana
after sunset. In the meantime, the storms in
Missouri and Oklahoma continued to move northeastward, producing wind
damage and even spawning two tornadoes in Texas County, MO during
the evening hours. These storms moved out of
Missouri and into Illinois, about two to three hours behind the
previous line of storms (Figure 10,
NWS). By this time the
storms had lost much of their punch, but were still producing
significant amounts of rain. By the morning of June 14, 0.50
to 2.00 inches of rain had fallen in a relatively narrow band from
southwestern Missouri though central Illinois into central Indiana.
Heavy rain also occurred in parts of Minnesota, where Isle
on the southeast corner
of Lake Mille Lacs reported a new record
rainfall for June 13
of 2.95 inches.
The path of the storms over the central Midwest was very evident on the
Storm Prediction Center's plot of storm reports for June 13 (Figure 11). There were ten
tornadoes reported, three each in
Minnesota,
Iowa, and Missouri, and one in Illinois. The cold front
continued
to trigger severe storms on June 14 as is moved through the eastern
Midwest, and severe weather occurred in a wide arc from southern
Michigan through the eastern half of Ohio and across the eastern half
of Kentucky (Figure 12). Cooler, less
humid, and breezy
weather
took hold over the Midwest in the wake of this system.