Last winter the Mid-West of the United States was flooded repeatedly for months, in what one would expect to be the coldest season of the year, and thus not prone to flooding. a band up the middle of the continent which has been subjected to flooding rather than drought. The flooding is indicated by Greens on the Palmer long term drought map, linked to by the graphic below (the flooding was anamolous in that it continued all winter, when you expect not flooding but rather freezing. The radar maps during May, indicated further extremely heavy rain in these areas, and there are more flood warnings posted, the pattern continuing into the late spring. This area includes 'the corn belt' etc and thus there are concerns about planting because the ground is so soggy. As well mosquitoes thrive in such soggy conditions, and thus there are concerns about the spread of the West Nile Virus which is carried by mosquitoes and is present in these regions this spring...



May 11th Palmer Long Term Drought Map


During the first week of June there was further heavy rains and flooding in these areas. The graphics below indicated the flood warning areas in green. The graph to the left shows the flooding during the first week of May, and the graph to the right shows the flooding for June 5th, 2002.



Severe Weather Maps
First week of May
First week of June, 2002
Flooding shown in green


The flooded areas drain into the Mississippi, so it is typical on the maps of the last months to see in following days the line of flooding following the Mississippi south. According to an AP report up to 6.5 inches of rain were reported during the recent flooding, causing floods in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin. "Gov. Tom Vilsack declared seven eastern Iowa counties disaster areas... Dubuque officials called off classes on the last day of school due to flooding." As well residents of small towns have begun sandbagging as rivers overflow their banks, and some towns are under water. "The Iowa Department of Natural Resources also said 10 cities in northeast Iowa were forced to bypass their wastewater treatment plants to prevent sewage from flooding basements ... The Pecatonica was expected to rise above flood stage by Tuesday afternoon at Freeport, Ill., and the Rock was expected to overflow at Moline by Wednesday evening. At Chicago O'Hare International Airport, flight delays of up to two hours were reported."


The following visible satellite image for June 5th, 2002, shows where the rain clouds are centered (right over the flooded areas, right where they are not needed).