March 24-31, 2006
Midwest Weekly Highlights - March 24-31, 2006
The final week of March was generally quiet and cool, but concluded with a severe weather outbreak. Headlines this week revolved around the severe weather event and generally below normal temperatures. The average daily temperature departures across the Midwest indicate that much of the region was generally below average for this time of year, with a gradient from north to south (Figure 1). Average daily mean temperatures for the final week of March ranged from 4-5°F below normal across Kentucky, to 1-4°F below normal across Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and Iowa. The warmest part of the Midwest this week was across Minnesota and much of Wisconsin and Michigan, where temperatures were some 3-6°F above average. No record temperatures were set this week across the Midwest.
Precipitation for the
week was relatively infrequent and light, with the exception of the
March 30/31 storms, thus many locations
received below
normal amounts of precipitation. This week, eastern Wisconsin,
much of Michigan, Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky
experienced precipitation deficits ranging from 10 to 50% of normal,
while much of Iowa, northern Missouri, western Wisconsin, and most of
Minnesota,
saw
between 100 and 200% of the normal
precipitation (Figure 2).
The lack of significant precipitation resulted in little
change
in the drought status (Figure 3).
Snow was virtually non-existent this week, and the snow
cover
map from March 28 shows that much of the snow cover from last week has
since melted, with only a few locations across the Midwest having any
snow on the ground (Figure 4).
Severe Weather Concludes an Active March
Much of the last week of March featured quiet weather with below normal temperatures across the Midwest. A quick moving system brought some light rain and embedded thundershowers to parts of Iowa, Illinois, Wisconsin, Indiana and Ohio on March 26-28 (Figure 5). Low clouds and fog hung around for an extended period of time in the wake of this system before southerly and southeasterly winds developed ahead of the next system which affected the Midwest on March 30-31.The system passing through the Midwest on March 30-31 was potent, bringing rich Gulf moisture northward in collision with cool, dry air advancing westward. This clash resulted in a severe weather outbreak across Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky during this period (Figure 6, Figure 7, Storm Prediction Center). Several lines of storms developed ahead of the advancing cold front, and a few supercell thunderstorms also developed, causing damage across Iowa and western Missouri (Figure 8, Figure 9). In Ames, IA, storms producing high winds pushed a mobile home off of its foundation, displacing the homeowner. On I-80, at least five semi-trailer trucks were blown off the highway near Stuart, IA. Fortunately, no one was injured.
Northwestern Missouri was particularly hard hit by the storms on March 30th. At least five persons were injured when a tornado roared through Savannah, MO; Warrensburg, MO; and Sedalia, MO. Four of the injuries occurred in Savannah, MO when the tornado struck around 7:10pm LST, destroying several homes, and one additional injury occurred in Warrensburg, MO, when the tornado hit a mobile home park. The severe weather continued eastward on March 31st, causing numerous power outages, and at least one tornado near Ohio City, OH. The National Weather Service in North Webster, IN, confirmed than an F2 tornado hit the city, and produced the following damage map (Figure 10).
Finally, on March 31, in the wake of the departing storm system, Chicago, IL was blasted by very high non-thunderstorm winds. These wind gusts approached 60 mph in the city of Chicago, damaging roofs and critically injured a four year old boy when a tree limb fell and struck him in the head. Additional injuries were reported at a car wash when the roof blew off and slammed into an electrical transformer, knocking out power and traffic lights. The Federal Aviation Administration tower near Gary, IN reported a measured wind gust of 67 mph.
Will the first week of April pick up where March left off? Find out in next week's edition of the Midwest Climate Watch.
Kruk