{"id":4049,"date":"2002-04-15T09:33:08","date_gmt":"2002-04-15T14:33:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/?p=4049"},"modified":"2013-07-24T17:15:18","modified_gmt":"2013-07-24T22:15:18","slug":"monthly-news-summary-april-2002","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ssec.wisc.edu\/news\/articles\/4049","title":{"rendered":"Monthly News Summary – April 2002"},"content":{"rendered":"

Winter Finally Arrives in Wisconsin<\/em><\/h1>\n
by Terri Gregory, SSEC Public Information Coordinator<\/em><\/h5>\n

This issue of\u00a0<\/em>In the News\u00a0covers news and events mostly occurring in March 2002. Use images freely with credit to the Space Science and Engineering Center, University of Wisconsin\u2013Madison.<\/em><\/p>\n

Cold Canadian winds<\/strong>\u00a0blew an incipient spring out of the Midwestern United States on Saturday, March 2. The winds also blew away a facile comparison of this winter with last year\u2019s. Until March, one could easily say that winter 2000-2001 (last year) was snowy and cold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"April.2002.1dec_feb_2001_precip_rank_state\"<\/a> \"april.2002.2statetemp2000-1_ltl\"<\/a><\/td>\n\n
The top graphic ranks each state on precipitation received for all last winter, based on records for each state. Midwestern states mostly received at least a normal amount of precipitation, including snow. The bottom graphic ranks states on temperature. Most of the central U.S. was colder than normal. Click on each for more information.(Maps by NOAA)<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Winter 2001\u20132002 (this year) was mostly not snowy and was warmer than average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"apirl.2002.3stateprecip_2001-2ltl\"<\/a>\"apir2002.4statetemps_2001-2ltl\"<\/a><\/td>\n\n
These graphics correspond with those above, for this past winter, 2001\u20132002. This winter was much dryer and warmer than last year. Click on each for more information.\u00a0(Maps by NOAA)<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
\"april.2002.12000GOES_ltl\"<\/a>\"april.2002.22001GOES_ltl\"<\/a><\/td>\n\n
Both images are visible images taken by the GOES-East satellite. The top image was taken on December 22, 2000. The white area over the northern Midwest is snow. The bottom image was taken on December 20, 2001. Most white areas over the northern Midwest is cloud. For the most part, this image is snowless. Click on each for a larger view.\u00a0(Images by J.Robaidek and SSEC Data Center)<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Last October, NOAA climate forecasters predicted that the Midwestern U.S. would probably have a \u201cnormal\u201d winter\u2014cold with lots of snow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"april.2002winter2001-2002\"<\/a><\/td>\n<\/td>\n\n
Forecast for this winter (December\u2013February) 2001\u20132002. Click for a larger vesion.\u00a0(NOAA)<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

The cold really did not arrive until the beginning of March, when places like La Crosse and Madison, Wisconsin finally recorded their first below zero\u00b0 F temperatures of the entire winter season. Periodic snowfall did cover parts of the region from December through February, but the distribution of snow pack was very spotty compared to a normal winter (when a widespread snow cover is usually in place across most of the Great Plains and Midwest region north of 40\u00b0 N).<\/p>\n

CIMSS meteorologist Scott Bachmeier showed the extent of snow cover after the January 30\u201331, 2002 storm in this GOES satellite image, which shows how spotty snowfall was. The heavy diagonal swath is the only snow in those states.<\/p>\n

\"april.2002newsnowltl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

According to Bachmeier, \u201ca map of current snow depth [the end of February 2002] produced by the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC) shows how much farther north the existing snow pack was in relation to the climatological \u2018normal\u2019 for this time of year (the dashed line on the map represents the normal 1-cm snow depth line).\u201d<\/p>\n

\"april.2002Can-anal-snowcover-ltl\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bachmeier noted that in December 2000, Iowa had record-setting snow depths (20-30 inches) across much of the state (top graphic). In December 2001, only the upper peninsula of Michigan had anything resembling normal snow cover (bottom graphic).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"april.2002snowdepth2000ltl\"<\/a><\/td>\n\n
These graphics show inches of snow on the ground. In December 2000 (top), a large area of snow cover had 6-18″ (light and dark green) on the ground, and some areas had as much as 18-30″ (blue). Click on each for more information.<\/h5>\n
In December 2001 (bottom), however, most of these northern Midwest states had received 6″ or less of snow.\u00a0(Maps by NOAA’s North Central River Forecast Center in Minnesota)<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Then March came in \u201clike a lion,\u201d breaking records for cold and snow throughout the Great Plains states and the Midwest. One example was the heavy snow which fell across much of the north central U.S. from March 13\u201315 (the red-enhanced swath across Wyoming, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin and Michigan on this MODIS composite image from NASA\u2019s Terra satellite).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\"apri.2002Modis-snow-ltl\"<\/a><\/td>\n\n
Red shows a swathe of snow freshly fallen across the Midwest.\u00a0(Liam Gumley)<\/em><\/h5>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Storm total accumulations were as high as 19 inches in South Dakota, 21 inches in Minnesota, and 20 inches in Wisconsin. By mid-March, Marquette, Michigan had gone on record with its greatest amount of seasonal snow ever\u2013300 inches this winter. The storm brought not only heavy snow, but frigid cold uncharacteristic of March. Temperatures plummeted to -27\u00b0 F in parts of Montana, with the following week averaging about 30\u00b0 F below normal for that time of year. For many locations across the Great Plains and Midwest region, March was, after all, fairly snowy and much colder than normal, partially offsetting the record warmth and low snow of the early months of this winter.<\/p>\n