Ag Weather Forum

MIDWEST FALL MOISTURE TOTALS

Precipitation totals logged by my colleague Joel Burgio for the fall season (Sep/Oct/Nov for weather record purposes) show some big, big differences between the eastern half of the region (east of the Mississippi River) and the western half (west of the Mississippi). Here's the rundown:

WESTERN MIDWEST

State Prec Norm Pct Normal

MN 2.33 6.06 39

IA 5.39 7.37 73

NE 3.38 5.64 58

MO 8.33 8.59 97

SD 1.88 4.01 47

TOT 4.37 6.49 64

EASTERN MIDWEST

State Prec Norm Pct Normal

WI 6.02 8.90 68

IL 8.91 8.38 107

MI 7.18 7.60 95

IN 9.47 8.25 115

OH 8.50 7.46 115

KY 9.68 9.13 106

TOT 8.56 8.25 105

The largest precip total Sep thru Nov was logged by Belleville, IL with 13.58 inches. Belleville also had the greatest above-normal percentage, 61 percent greater than the average of 8.46 inches.

The smallest precip total was logged by Aberdeen, SD with 1.45 inches, 53 percent less than the average of 3.11 inches. St. Cloud, MN was the farthest below normal--its 1.91 inches total was just 25 percent of the normal 7.65 inches.

It's also noteworthy that in the eastern Midwest, Wisconsin was more than 30 percent below its normal precipitation total; also, Rockford, IL was 46 percent below its normal Sep-Nov precipitation; Chicago, down 24 percent from normal; and Moline IL was 22 percent below normal. And in the western Midwest, Kirksville and St. Louis, MO logged Sep-Nov precip totals which were 14 and 11 percent above normal respectively.

Those in-region differences note how drought improvement has been segmented to mainly the southeastern portion of the Midwest during this fall season.

Bryce

I'm on Twitter @BAndersonDTN