January 11-17, 2007
Midwest Weekly Highlights - January 11-17, 2007
A Return to Winter
The second week of January featured temperatures somewhat closer to long-term averages, and significantly above average precipitation - and in the form of many different types. Temperature departures this week exhibited a distinct west-east gradient, with the western areas being colder than normal, and the eastern areas much warmer than normal. West of the Mississippi River, temperature departures ranged from 0 to 8 °F below normal, especially the far western areas (Figure 1). East of the River, temperature departures ranged from 4 to 12°F above normal, with the most pronounced area of warmth across Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky, where departures were routinely 10-12°F above normal.
Precipitation during the first week of January was generally above normal, but portions of the northern Midwest were well below normal. The highest precipitation totals were found across Missouri, northeast into Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, and southern Lower Michigan, were totals were an astounding 500 to 700% of normal. Additional areas of heavier totals were found across parts of Iowa, where residents experienced 150 to 200% of normal precipitation. Meanwhile, a stripe of below average precipitation was found from much of northern and central Minnesota eastward into northern and central Wisconsin, where totals this week ranged from 0% to 50% of normal (Figure 2). Snowfall this week was found across the upper Midwest, with a swath of 4-6 inches across northern Iowa into Wisconsin, and additional heavier amounts were found in the lee of Lake Superior (Figure 3). The lack of precipitation in the northern Midwest did little to reduce the drought status there, and largely across the remainder of the Midwest drought conditions remained unchanged from last week.
Historical Ice Storm Paralyzes the Midwest
A strong cold front blasted through the region on January 12, bringing much colder air into the Midwest (Figure 4). Along and ahead of the front, numerous showers and a general area of widespread rains were found, depositing a half-inch to just over an inch in areas from central Missouri northeast through central Illinois. Unfortunately, one fatality occurred in St. Francois County, MO when a man attempted to cross a flooded roadway. Temperatures ahead of the cold front soared well into the 50's and 60's (°F), while temperatures behind the front were below zero (Figure 5). The cold air slowly sank southward and began to interact with warm, moist air riding up and over the cold dome near the surface. This set the stage for a freezing rain situation, where rain falls and freezes on contact with cold surfaces (Figure 6, National Weather Service, Springfield, MO).
Freezing rain began on the evening of the 12th, and more or less continued in 3 different "waves" of precipitation through Sunday night, January 14. When all was said and done, Kansas City, MO, received a mixture of ice and snow (Figure 7, National Weather Service, Kansas City, MO), central and southern Missouri saw excessive ice in the amounts of 1-2 inches (Figure 8, Springfield, MO), and the greater St. Louis, MO area saw between 0.5 and 1.5 inches of ice (Figure 9, St. Louis, MO, NWS).
Impacts from the incredible amounts of ice were widespread and devastating. More than 85 shelters across Missouri remained open several days after the event to accommodate the more than 3,600 persons who had been displaced from their homes. Still, on the 16th of January, more than 163,000 customers across Missouri remained in the dark without electricity. In Buffalo, MO, where the population is 2,800, the town was entirely shut down as the water towers ran dry on account of no electricity which disabled the pumping station. Airports in Kansas City, MO, Springfield, MO, and St. Louis, MO experienced major cancellations on the order of 60% or more of all available incoming and outgoing flights.
In a Kansas City, MO suburb, a 16-year-old boy, on his way to school, was killed when the pickup truck he was in slid on ice and overturned. In addition, an 81-year-old man, driving an S.U.V., slid off an icy stretch of road and overturned into a median. The man was ejected from his car and pronounced dead on the scene. Finally, a 19-year-old female was killed when she lost control of her car on a ice-covered road in central Missouri and was then struck in the passenger side by an oncoming pickup truck. In all, nine deaths occurred in Missouri, eight in Iowa, four in Michigan, and one in Indiana.
Further north, snow was the main precipitation type, and a solid band of 4-7" of snow fell across southern Minnesota eastward into west-central Wisconsin (Figure 10, Chanhassen, MN, NWS), although much of the state of Wisconsin saw some snow from this system (Figure 11, Milwaukee, WI, NWS). As the system departed, much of North America was then snow-covered, and many lakes were frozen over (Figure 12).
Last but certainly not least, was the rain that accompanied the storm system to the east and south of the icy conditions. This affected areas of east-central Illinois, southern Illinois, much of Kentucky, Indiana, and Ohio. In Paducah, KY, a storm-total rainfall of 4.31" was measured, and in Reidland, KY, 4.55" of rain was measured. Generally, 3-5 inches of rain fell across this part of the Midwest (Figure 13). Numerous roads were deemed impassable and under water, while many rivers across the area reported rises and a few rose over their banks...and were still rising.
Arctic Air Invasion
Once the winter storm exited the region, very cool temperatures funneled into the Midwest, providing more normal January conditions. However, the cold air was first felt across the upper Midwest, were overnight low temperatures dropped below 0°F on January 12 (Figure 14). This cold, dense, arctic air eventually got wrapped up into the departing storm system, and brought single-digit low temperatures to portions of the Midwest on the 15-16th (Figure 15).
Snowfall on Monday afternoon (January 15th) gave way to lake effect snow showers by early evening across upstate Lower Michigan. The lake effect snow bands were very narrow, but persistent, resulting in isolated locations of heavy snow. On January 16, there were a few reports of 13 inches of snow just south of Traverse City, MI, while Maple City, MI reported 11 inches. However, the band was so narrow that Traverse City, MI had just 1.6 inches of snow by the 16th. Finally, cold air running over warm Lake Michigan water temperatures led to the development of another narrow lake-effect snow band which dropped 3-5" of snow over Porter County, IN (Figure 16, CoCoRaHS).
Will the third week of January feature more seasonal conditions, or will El Nino change that again? Find out in next week's edition of the Midwest Climate Watch.
Kruk