January 2008
Midwest Monthly Highlights - January 2008
January was colder than normal in the northwestern and southeastern portions of the region, while temperatures in the central sections of the Midwest were near to slightly above normal.
Temperatures ranged from 2°F to 4°F below normal from northwestern Missouri to southwestern Minnesota (Figure 1). In the southeastern Midwest temperatures ranged from near normal along the Ohio River to 2°F below normal in southern Kentucky. Temperatures in a band from southwestern Missouri north and eastward to Ohio ranged from 1°F to 2°F above normal. The largest positive departures occurred from northern Wisconsin eastward to southern Lower Michigan and extreme northeastern Ohio, where temperatures were 4°F to 6°F above normal.
January was a wet month for areas around the Great Lakes. Precipitation was heaviest in central to northern Illinois and through northern Indiana, most of which occurred during the first 10 days of the month (Figure 2). Dry weather persisted across Minnesota as only a fraction of the normal precipitation fell. Missouri, Kentucky and Ohio received near normal precipitation (Figure 3).
Snowfall across the region varied. Snowfall was well above normal across Iowa, northern Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan (Figure 4). The largest accumulation of snow occurred in the U. P. of Michigan where more than 60 inches fell during January. Much of that resulted from lake effect snowfall as low pressure exited the region to the east. Little to no snow fell across much of Missouri, southern Illinois, northwest Minnesota and Kentucky.
The first major storm system to affect the area hit on January 8 as a cold front stalled out across Iowa and northern Illinois. Waves of low pressure rode up the eastern flank of a trough carved out in the central U.S. slowly advancing the front. The storms that raced ahead and along the front produced over 75 reports of tornadoes, 121 strong wind reports, and over 136 reports of hail. Heavy rains accompanied these storms and caused numerous flooding related issues along rivers. Flooding in Illinois was aided by melting snows further north. Things quieted down during the middle of the month until the weekend of the 19th and 20th when another cold blast of air brought wind chills down to dangerous levels across the northern Midwest. The month ended with a bang as warm air invaded the area ahead of a very strong arctic cold front that swept through the Midwest on January 29. The front was accompanied by severe thunderstorms, a sharp drop in temperature, and a spectacular contrast in weather within a few hundred miles. It is not too often that a tornado watch and blizzard/winter storm warnings exist within a few counties of each other, but that in fact was the case on January 29 in the central Midwest (Figure 5). Temperatures fell as much as 30°F within an hour of the front passing at most locations. The combination of rain, sleet, freezing rain, and snow and blowing snow in the cold air behind the front made travel extremely hazardous. Winds sustained from 40 to 45 mph and gust to more than 50 mph produced near white-out conditions from eastern Iowa southeast through central Illinois.
The Midwest bore the brunt of severe weather activity during January. According to the Storm Prediction Center 554 storm reports were received in the nine Midwestern states received. Nationally there were 1034 during January.
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