Two More Strong Storms for the North

In the Midwest, a system moved through this week with widespread rain and thunderstorms. Some areas of heavy rain moved through, which again reduced drought in the region. The busy pattern isn’t done yet with a strong storm moving across the north with a mix of rain and snow for Thursday and Friday and another that will spread widespread precipitation for Saturday through Monday. Very heavy snow is in the forecast across the north between the two systems, which will produce a foot or more in some spots of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan. Measurable snow may fall across parts of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana and will be followed by lake-effect snow for early next week. One more push of a wintry mix will move through Tuesday and Wednesday, but with less accumulation on the nose of some warmer air moving in.

In the Northern Plains, areas of scattered showers have fallen so far this week, but two more big systems are still to move through. One will move through on Thursday with a mix of rain and snow, some of which will be heavy across the far north. Another system will continue the snow near the mountains on Friday, but then spread across the region for Saturday and Sunday. This should include widespread areas of snow and result in some moderate to heavy amounts, especially farther west and farther east. One more system will move through on Monday and Tuesday with more limited precipitation on the nose of some warmer air moving in that will quickly melt the snow next week, providing a boost to soil moisture.

In the Central and Southern Plains, a system brought through some rounds of showers and thunderstorms to the southeast this week, which included some more drought-reducing rainfall amounts and pockets of severe weather. A burst of snow moved through Nebraska as well. Another system will move through this weekend, with a primary focus of precipitation over Nebraska, but with lighter amounts. Some light snow may fall on Monday as well. Warmer temperatures next week will cause drying conditions.

In the Delta, a system brought through another round of widespread moderate to heavy rainfall and some severe weather this week, which will help to reduce drought. However, deficits still remain large and drought will not be removed so easily. A front will move through on Sunday with scattered showers, but the region will go drier afterward.

In the Southeast, scattered showers and thunderstorms moved through this week and are exiting on Thursday. A front will move through Sunday night and Monday with more scattered showers. Some areas of heavy rain have moved through, which will help to ease the drought some, but deficits are very large, especially for southern Georgia and Florida, which need an extreme amount of rain to get out of drought. Drier weather next week will not be favorable for that.

In the Western U.S., isolated showers moved across the south this week with a cutoff low-pressure center moving through. More showers moved through northern areas with a couple of disturbances this week as well. Despite that, drought grew across the Pacific Northwest and into northern California, where dryness has been growing as of late. Showers will continue in the north through the weekend and may hit the Washington coastal mountains next week, but drier weather is going to be widespread. Extremely high temperatures early in the season will melt more of the limited snowpack in the southern mountain areas, leading to abnormally early runoff that could lead to more drought conditions later on this spring and summer.

John Baranick can be reached at john.baranick@dtn.com