Midwest Overview - September 2009

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Precipitation

Precipitation varied considerably in September (Figure 1). Percent of normal rainfall varied from less than 25% to more than 200% across the region. Areas with above normal precipitation included southern parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio as well as all of Kentucky. The remaining parts of the Midwest received below normal rainfall with the driest area located in northern Wisconsin and parts of northeast Minnesota. Drought conditions on September 29th (Figure 2) had worsened across the upper Midwest and had emerged in Indiana and Ohio relative to the September 1st depiction (Figure 3). Despite dry conditions across most of the Midwest, flooding was an issue in the southern parts. The Louisville, Kentucky National Weather Service Office had 49 damage reports related to either heavy rain or flooding in September.

Temperature

Temperatures were near normal across much of the Midwest in September (Figure 4). The coolest temperatures were in Missouri where they ran as much as 2°F below normal. The warmest temperatures were in Minnesota, northern Wisconsin, and Upper Michigan. Duluth, Minnesota experienced its second warmest September ever, only exceeded by September 1897. The temperatures in Duluth set no records but were consistently above normal until the last couple days of the month (Figure 5).
 

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