Midwest Weekly Highlights - September 10-16, 2009

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Precipitation

A lack of significant weather systems and a general pattern of high pressure brought a quiet week to the Midwest. Below normal rainfall was the rule across the region. Most of the Midwest received less than a quarter inch for the week (Figure 1). Only extreme southern Missouri and small areas of western Iowa and Minnesota were above normal (Figure 2). The dry weather did nothing to alleviate drought conditions across parts of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan (Figure 3).
 

Temperature

Temperatures were near normal (within 2°F) across Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri as well as southern Iowa and most of Illinois. To the north, warmer than normal weather prevailed in Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, northern Iowa, and extreme northern Illinois (Figure 4). Temperatures in northern Minnesota exceeded normal by more than 10°F. Late in the week, record highs in Minnesota and Wisconsin provided nearly all the Midwest temperature records.

Southern Missouri and western Kentucky experienced warm low temperatures (Figure 5) and cool high temperatures (Figure 6). Moisture and cloudiness from the northern edge of a slow moving low pressure system centered over Texas and Louisiana (Figure 7) limited both nighttime cooling and daytime heating in these areas for several days.
 

-MST-