Midwest Weekly Highlights - January 25-31, 2010

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Two storms skirt the Midwest

Two storms centered outside the region affected the Midwest during the last week of January. The first was the tail end of a storm from the previous week that brought blizzard conditions to parts of Minnesota and Iowa on the 25th (Figure 1). Minnesota and Iowa saw wind gusts in excess of 40 miles per hour behind the low as the system moved into Canada on Monday (Figure 2). The second system remained to the south of the region but dropped a swath of snow that included southern Missouri and Kentucky (Figure 3). The heaviest snow fell to the south of the region causing impacts from Oklahoma and Texas all the way to the Carolinas but January 30th morning reports show snow extended northward into the southern Midwest as well (Figure 4). The snow deposited by this storm was notable when snow depth maps from the beginning and end of the week were compared (Figure 5). More than 100 precipitation records were set where totals exceeded previous daily records.
 

Colder Temperatures Return

The last week of January saw a shift to colder than normal temperatures. Temperatures ranged from near normal in northeast Michigan to as much as 9°F below normal in southwest Minnesota and northwest Iowa (Figure 6). The coldest areas were those with snow depths ranging from one to two feet (Figure 7). Thirty-six temperature records were recorded on the 25th, but only 14 during the rest of the week.
 

Flooding Continues

Rivers that rose the previous week, from rain and melting snow, remained high mid-week particularly in Illinois (Figure 8) and Indiana (Figure 9). In the Red River Valley, concerns grew about spring flooding due to the amount of water in the snow pack.
 

-MST-