Midwest Weekly Highlights - June 1-7, 2010

---

Thunderstorms Bring Severe Weather and Heavy Rains

Severe weather was widespread during the first week of June (Figure 1) including an outbreak of tornadoes on the 5th. All nine states reported severe weather with tornado touch-downs in six states. Heavy precipitation for the week fell from the Iowa-Missouri border to Michigan and Ohio (Figure 2). Weekly rainfall totals exceeded 5 inches at many locations. Other areas to the northwest and south received less than an inch for the week. Viewed as a percentage of normal precipitation, values ranged from less than 25% of normal in central Kentucky to 700% of normal in the thumb of Michigan (Figure 3).

More than 250 daily cooperative station precipitation records were reported with each of the first six days of the month reporting at least 25 records. There were also four monthly records with one, Princeton, Missouri (Mercer County) on June 5th, recording its all-time (118 year period of record) daily amount of 5.60 inches.
 

Warm Temperatures Except for the Upper Midwest

Temperatures were above normal for the southern two-thirds of the Midwest and generally near normal in the upper Midwest. Central Kentucky experienced the biggest positive departures in excess of 6°F while northern Minnesota had the largest negative departures of -3°F to -4°F (Figure 4). About 100 daily temperature records were set during the week with most being record high minimum temperatures on the 5th and 6th. 
 

Five Tornado Fatalities in Ohio During June 5th Outbreak

A frontal boundary on June 5th stretched nearly east to west across the Midwest slowly progressing to the southeast (Figure 5). Strong thunderstorms fired up along and ahead of the boundary throughout the afternoon and evening and into the night. An EF4 tornado packing winds in excess of 170 mph touched down in Wood County, Ohio at about 11:20pm and lifted about 11:35pm after moving nearly 10 miles into Ottawa County. Five deaths were attributed to the storm. Damage to buildings and homes was extensive with damage to the high school gymnasium in Millbury postponing the graduation ceremony. Fifty homes were reported destroyed in Millbury and preliminary damage reports were in the tens of millions of dollars. Lake County High School was also destroyed just hours before it was to host graduation. Dozens of homes were also destroyed in Lake County. Another death in Erie County was blamed on a non-tornadic thunderstorm.

In southeast Michigan, tornadoes also caused extensive structural damage causing a postponement and relocation of the Dundee High School (Monroe County) graduation ceremony to Eastern Michigan University. The Fermi 2 nuclear power plant automatically shut down when buildings on site sustained minor damage. More than 30,000 people lost power with thousands remaining without power in the morning.

Tornadoes in southern Michigan and northern Indiana were covered by Grand Rapids NWS and Northern Indiana NWS. Several homes and a barn were damaged in Cass County, Michigan. A church was damaged by an EF1 tornado in Yeoman, Indiana (White County). In Carroll County, Indiana the storm damaged 15 homes and a hog farm causing millions of dollars in damage.

Tornadic storms also moved across northern and central Illinois with NWS verification of 7 tornadoes in the Central Illinois NWS area and 12 tornadoes in the Chicago NWS area. Though Illinois was spared fatalities, there were dozens of injuries reported and widespread structural damage as several tornadoes hit towns.

In Streator (LaSalle County), 17 injuries were reported along with numerous homes damaged and some completely destroyed. Near Dwight (Livingston County) two separate tornadoes caused a train derailment, a dozen destroyed mobile homes , numerous homes damaged either directly or by downed trees, and six injuries including one which was termed serious. Between Streator and Dwight in Livingston County, there was EF3 damage as homes were severely damaged and several metal truss high tension electrical towers were damaged including one that collapsed.

Near St. Anne (Kankakee County) two tornadoes caused damage to several homes, at least two of which were left uninhabitable north of town. Outbuildings also were damaged by the storms. NWS surveys report that the longer tracking tornado reached EF3 levels for part of its lifetime.

Further to the south a tornado tracked through Yates City (Knox County) and Elmwood (Peoria County) leaving behind a path of damaged and destroyed buildings. A movie theatre roof collapsed in Elmwood but the moviegoers had already been evacuated and nobody was injured. The downtown area of Elmwood reported several building with extensive damage to their upper floors. Authorities shut down Illinois Route 8 due to damage in the two cities.

Maquoketa, Iowa (Jackson County) was also hit by a twister. Damage to homes and elementary school were limited and no injuries were reported.
 

Severe Weather Early in the Week

Earlier in the week severe weather affected the Midwest as storms produced heavy rain, hail, and high winds. Severe weather on the 1st was located along the Iowa-Missouri border and into northern Illinois. Damage was mostly blown down trees and power lines but hail in three Iowa counties was reported over 2.50 inches in diameter (O'Brien, Plymouth, and Ringgold Counties). On the 2nd of June, severe weather occurred mostly along the cold front just to the north of the Ohio River (Figure 6). Most of the damage reports were thunderstorm winds causing tree and power pole damage but 3.00 inch hail was reported near Liberal, Missouri (Barton County). The following day, severe weather was scattered and much less frequent. June 4th saw a return of frequent severe weather with dozens of reports across the central Midwest of wind and hail. Hail greater than 2.50 inches was reported in Iowa (Freemont County) and Missouri (Schuyler County and Daviess County).
 

Drought in the Upper Midwest

Rains in the upper Midwest during the week were welcome but not nearly enough to overcome the severe and extreme drought conditions (Figure 7). The area has been below normal precipitation over the past couple years and the accumulated deficits have led to the current conditions. The area will need considerable rainfall as the growing season ramps up to avoid severe impacts.
 

2009 Corn Harvest Wraps Up in Iowa

Despite most of the 2010 corn being planted in Iowa, there remained some 2009 corn in the fields. For northwest Iowa farmers, harvest extended through each month since September. The last of the 2009 corn crop was picked in Plymouth County during the first week of June 2010. Even in these late harvested fields, the yield was decent and grain moisture was low as well.
 

-MST-