Midwest Weekly Highlights - December 1-10, 2011

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Cool Temperatures in the West

Temperatures were cooler than normal in the western half of the Midwest for the first ten days of December (Figure 1). Western Iowa averaged as up to 10°F below normal. Few areas in the region were above normal, and only by a couple degrees. Despite the cold experienced in western Iowa, -19°F in Sheldon (O'Brien County) on the 6th, just a handful of daily temperature records were set.
 

Streaky Precipitation

Precipitation totals ranged from less than 10% of normal up to three times normal (Figure 2). Two swaths of 150% to 300% of normal precipitation extended from southwest to northeast. One from southwest Iowa and northwest Missouri extended into Wisconsin and the other from the boot heel of Missouri, along the Ohio River, and through Ohio. Between those two swaths, totals dropped off to 25% to 50% of normal and in Minnesota totals were less than 25% of normal for most of the state. Hundreds of daily precipitation records were set as the precipitation swept across the region from the 3rd to the 6th (Figure 3).
 

Flooded Rivers in the East

December began with many rivers in the eastern Midwest above flood stage. Some dropped below flood stage only to rise again with the heavy rains on the 5th and 6th (Figure 4). By the end of the period, most of the rivers outside the Wabash Valley in Illinois and Indiana had returned to their banks.
 

Ohio Harvest

With roughly 20% of Ohio's corn yet to be harvested, wet soils have kept farmers out of their fields. Many are now waiting for the ground to freeze so that the crop can be harvested.
 

Lack of Snow for Much of the Region

Several inches of snow fell from western Iowa to the western part of Upper Michigan and southeast Michigan also picked up a few inches (Figure 5). Totals for the first ten days of the month remained below normal for much of the upper Midwest, with Chicago's seasonal total under an inch and northern Michigan several inches below normal for this time of year (Figure 6).
 

-MST-
The Iowa Climatology Bureau also contributed to this report.