Dangerous Heat in the Central and Southern U.S.; Thunderstorms and Heavy Rain in the Northern Plains

Dangerous, prolonged heat is expected across portions of the Central and Southeast U.S. through July. Scattered severe thunderstorms are expected over parts of the northern Plains into the upper Mississippi Valley Tuesday, with damaging winds and large hail as the primary threats. Heavy rainfall could lead to areas of flooding across the northern Plains, Upper Midwest, Southeast and Southwest. Read More >

Winter 2022-2023 was warmer than average and with higher precipitation than average overall. The warmer weather was observed region wide with mean temperatures about 1 to 3 degrees above average. Precipitation and snowfall was above average for most places, with an exception being parts of northern Minnesota mainly north and west of the Iron Range. There, snow was a bit below average and precipitation around to slightly below average. For most of the winter, the storm tracks favored northwest Wisconsin and parts of northeast Minnesota, bringing the heavy snows in December and resulting in a monthly record snowfall for Duluth. Additional snow and even some rain fell in January and February. Drought that was previously present especially across Douglas/Bayfield counties has been removed, leaving only a sliver of some abnormally dry to moderate drought conditions in northern and north-central Minnesota.