Midwest Weekly Highlights - June 1-9, 2012

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Rains in Northern Michigan but Dry Elsewhere

The first nine days of June brought above normal rainfall to only northern Michigan which received double their normal rainfall (Figure 1). Elsewhere, rainfall totals were less than 50% of normal for the majority of the region. The driest swaths, areas with less than 0.10" (Figure 2), ran along the Missouri River from western Iowa to central Missouri and from central Minnesota to east central Wisconsin. Precipitation deficits for the nine-day period topped 1.50" in western Missouri and southwest Iowa (Figure 3). A few dozen daily precipitation records were set with most occurring from the 1st through the 3rd as the low pressure moved across northern Michigan (Figure 4).
 

Temperature Gradient from Minnesota to Kentucky

Temperatures across the region ranged from above normal in the northwest to below normal in the southeast (Figure 5). Departures ranged from 7°F above normal in Minnesota to 5°F below normal in Kentucky. With the drier weather, the temperature range from daily minimum to maximum was larger than normal. This is evidenced by the warmer maximum temperature departures, when compared to minimum temperature departures, everywhere except northern Michigan (Figure 6). Daily temperature records were limited to a few dozen records, with record lows slightly more common than record highs.
 

Deadly Tornado in Southeast Missouri

June 4th brought an EF2 tornado, with winds estimated at 115 mph, to southeast Missouri killing three people in Diehlstadt, Missouri (Scott County). Though the tornado was on the ground for only a half mile, a mobile home in its path was completely destroyed killing three occupants. The same storm also damaged over 50 homes as downburst winds damaged roofs, snapped trees and power poles, and blew down a church steeple. Other than the deadly storm in Diehlstadt, severe weather was fairly limited across the region during the first nine days of June (Figure 7).
 

Drought

The cooler temperatures for most of the southern two-thirds of the region were welcome with the developing drought in the region. The upper Midwest was warmer but that area picked up good rains either last week or this week and was better able to withstand the heat. Conditions have rapidly deteriorated from Iowa and Missouri east to Indiana over the past few weeks with the dry conditions as concerns have continued to mount about further drought development if the rains don't return soon (Figure 8). Reports from farmers in the southern two-thirds of the region indicate drier than normal topsoil for large percentages of each state.

 

-MST-