Midwest Weekly Highlights - November 22-30, 2009

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Warm Temperatures Continue

The warmth continued in the last week of November. Temperatures for the last nine days of the month ranged from just 1-2°F above normal in southeast Kentucky to as much as 13°F above normal in northwest Minnesota (Figure 1). Maximum temperatures were above freezing across the Midwest with the exception of some subfreezing temperatures in northern Minnesota and upper Michigan on Thanksgiving and the following day. Hundreds of record high minimum temperatures were set, mostly in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan on November 22nd to 26th.
 

Precipitation

Precipitation was light across most of the Midwest. Totals exceeding an inch were confined to northwest Iowa, a swath from eastern Iowa along the Wisconsin-Illinois border, and the western edge of lower Michigan (Figure 2). Only a small part of western Missouri remained dry during the period. The southern third of the region received less than half their normal rainfall with only northwest Iowa into southwest Minnesota receiving twice their normal rainfall (Figure 3). Light snow fell on November 26th in Minnesota and moved southeast to Ohio by November 28th (Figure 4). Another shot of light snow developed in northern Minnesota on the 29th and spread to northern Wisconsin and upper Michigan on the 30th (Figure 5).
 

Illinois River Flooding

Flooding on the lower Illinois River from Havana to Hardin continues. The river levels were dropping late in November but remained at minor to moderate flood stage by the end of the month (Figure 6).
 

Harvest Lingers

Although the soybean harvest is nearly complete across the Midwest, there are considerable amounts of corn still in the fields. Wet soils and high grain moisture remain the major barriers to completing the corn harvest. Corn grain moisture reports range from the high teens to the mid 20s necessitating costly and time-consuming drying of the grain.

Soybean harvests are within a few percent of the 5-year averages. Corn harvests, except in Kentucky where the corn harvest is very nearly complete, are 10% (Iowa) to 28% (Wisconsin) behind the 5-year averages.

	Corn					Soybeans
State		This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5-Yr Average		This Week	Last Week	Last Year	5-Yr Average
IL		72	60	98	99		96	95	100	100
IN		84	73	99	98		99	97	100	99
IA		87	78	93	97		99	98	100	100
KY		99	98	100	100		99	92	100	99
MI		76	60	94	93		100	98	100	99
MN		78	66	96	98		99	97	100	100
MO		85	76	88	97		93	87	91	95
OH		85	76	98	96		100	99	100	100
WI		67	59	98	95		100	94	100	99

 

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