March 25-31, 2008
Midwest Weekly Highlights - March 25-31, 2008
Winters Grip Not Yet Gone
With cooler temperatures to the north not yet ceding their grip on the Midwest and warmer temperatures moving in from the south, this watch period saw several rounds of storms. The northern portions of the Midwest were more than six degrees Fahrenheit below average for the week of March 25-31, while temperatures in the south were at or above average (Figure 1). The storms triggered by this contrast brought 200 to 300 percent of normal precipitation to Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio, while Minnesota and Wisconsin received less than 10 percent of normal precipitation (Figure 2). Unfortunately, this continued the pattern of feast or famine seen earlier this month as the heavy rains fell over already saturated areas and produced localized flooding, while Minnesota and Wisconsin continued to be abnormally dry (Figure 3).
Here Come the Rains Again
On Thursday, March 27, 2008, severe storms occurred along a front that had set-up across the southern portion of the Midwest (Figure 4). In Missouri, there were numerous reports of tornadoes, hail and high winds. These included several large hail reports including baseball sized hail (2.75 inches) in Laquey, MO (Pulaski County) and tennis ball sized hail (2.50 inches) in Dent County. High winds also caused significant ruin across the state including St. James, MO (Phelps County) where the roof of a school was seriously damaged when part of it was blown off.
Much of Missouri was still recovering from the heavy rains earlier in the month when this latest round hit. Large numbers of roads were closed across Missouri (Figure 5) and many rivers are just now reaching their crests. The Ohio River at Cairo, IL crested on Tuesday, March 25, 2008 at 53.89 feet, almost 14 feet above the flood stage of 40 feet (Figure 6) and the Mississippi River crested on March 27, 2008 at New Madrid, MO and Caruthersville, MO. Minor to moderate flooding (Figure 7) remained across much of the Midwest through the end of the month.
Transitional Spring Weather
With spring being a transitional season, it is not uncommon for there to be both cold and warm season weather in the Midwest at the same time as occurred at the end of March 2008 (Figure 8). On March 30 and 31, a strong low pressure system moving up from the Texas panhandle triggered storms across the region (Figure 9). To the north, heavy, wet snow with accumulations of 6 to 8 inches occurred across central and southern Minnesota, northwestern Wisconsin and the upper peninsula of Michigan and made travel dangerous (Figure 10). One of the higher totals was in New Hope, MN (Hennepin County) which received 9.5 inches of snow, the most snow for Minnesota on March 31st since 1985. The passage of the warm front with the system on Sunday, March 30, brought some rain and hail to northern Missouri. However, it was the cold frontal passage on March 31 that truly triggered severe weather in both Missouri and Illinois. Several tornadoes struck in Missouri including an EF-2 in Buffalo (Dallas County) and an EF-1 in Neosho and Seneca (Newton County). In Buffalo, three people were injured when an antique store was flattened and a gas station was gutted while in Neosho, the strong winds collapsed a convenience store in addition to damaging roofs, blowing out windows and toppling trees and power lines. In Monroe County, Illinois, damage was caused by straight line winds . Rains on both days fell into already saturated ground and the additional rainfall resulted in rapid runoff, causing additional flooding threats (Figure 11).
MCP