Midwest Weekly Highlights - November 8-14, 2009

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Dry Weather Again Across Most of the Midwest

There was a second straight week of dry weather across nearly all the Midwest (Figure 1). Three areas received rain during the week. Southeast Kentucky was clipped by the remnants of Hurricane Ida on November 10th with rainfall amounts approaching an inch near the Kentucky-Virginia border (Figure 2). Also on November 10th an upper air disturbance caused a narrow swath of light rain (mostly less than 0.25") extending from northern Missouri to Lake Erie. Rain fell in the northwest part of the Midwest on the 9th and again on the 13th and 14th as a front moved into the region. For the week, northern Minnesota recorded the only above average precipitation totals in the Midwest with two to three times normal. (Figure 3)
 

Warm Temperatures

Temperatures were warm across the Midwest. Weekly temperature departures from normal ranged from 5°F in southeast Kentucky to 15°F in Minnesota (Figure 4). High temperatures averaged more than 10°F above normal in all but Missouri and Kentucky (Figure 5).  Hundreds of record high temperature records were set, including 48 record highs in Wisconsin on the 8th.
 

Illinois River Flooding Continues

Flooding along the lower Illinois River improved during the week but the area still experienced minor to moderate flood stages from Havana, Illinois to the confluence with the Mississippi River (counties affected by Illinois river flooding).
 

Harvest Progress

The dry weather during the week allowed Midwest farmers to make progress on the fall harvest. There was further good news as grain moisture of crops still in the field dropped in the warm, dry conditions. Corn and soybean harvest numbers from the National Agricultural Statistics Service are summarized in the table below.

	Corn					Soybeans
State		This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5-Yr Average		This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5-Yr Average
IL		52	31	87	95		90	69	99	99
IN		63	41	92	92		93	81	98	97
IA		59	34	69	89		96	83	98	99
KY		95	86	99	99		81	61	91	88
MI		35	16	81	81		94	79	99	95
MN		43	23	79	91		92	77	99	99
MO		72	62	79	92		83	64	82	89
OH		58	37	87	85		97	91	100	96
WI		38	23	67	77		88	54	100	97

 

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