National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Excessive Rainfall and Significant Flooding in the Upper Midwest This Weekend

Heavy to excessive rainfall is expected over the weekend across eastern Iowa, northern Missouri, northwest Illinois and southern Wisconsin. Numerous flash floods, some with significant impacts, are expected in these areas. Heaviest rainfall will occur overnight Saturday and Sunday, so be sure to have multiple ways to receive warnings. Read More >

 Northeastern Plains
March-April-May Precipitation

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Results for the climate division averages for all La Niña events indicates that the northeast plains have the smallest average precipitation deficit for the spring season, with 79% to 85% of the long term precipitation. The three sites examined support this value with departures only slightly below normal. During strong La  Niña events, all stations have a significant reduction in precipitation.  It is also important to note that for these stations, the average precipitation in March-April-May is more than double that of winter, so that similar departures in terms of percent actually result in a greater departure in terms of inches of precipitation.

A description of the graphs is located at the bottom of the page.  

winter precip for clayton during la nina events 
Percent of Longterm Average for all La Niña Events = 85% , for strong La Niña Events = 59% 
 
winter precip for tucumcari during la nina events 
Percent of Longterm Average for all La Niña Events = 79% , for strong La Niña Events = 50% 
 
winter precip for clovis during la nina events 
 Percent of Longterm Average for all La Niña Events = 83% , for strong La Niña Events = 51%
 

Precipitation values for 3-month periods during 19 La Niña Events since 1949-50 are plotted with respect to the long term precipitation average, listed to the right of the graph.  The precipitation totals for each 3-month period are plotted above or below each bar.  Years for which the La Niña Event was considered to be strong are colored in purple. "M" represents a 3-month period with missing data. Finally, the percents of longterm normal for all La Niña events and for the strong La Niña events are listed below each graph.