Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin September – November 2019. Dated December 2019.

Extreme temperature swings were masked by what was, overall, a largely near-normal autumn.The wet pattern continued across the northern tier of the Missouri River Basin. Overall, autumn 2019 was one of the wettest on record for North Dakota (wettest), South Dakota (5th), Iowa (6th), and Montana (11th).  ​

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin June – August 2019. Dated September 2019.

This summer, temperatures were largely near normal; however, minimum temperatures were slightly above normal, while maximum temperatures were below normal. Meanwhile, extremes in precipitation occurred across the region. This summer's wet conditions were a further continuation of a generally wet pattern that has been in place since last year.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin March – May 2019. Dated June 2019.

Average temperatures generally ranged from 2-8°F below normal, with the greatest departures in the upper Basin.  Precipitation, on the other hand, was extreme, with spring totals exceeding 150% of normal in many areas.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin December 2018 – February 2019. Dated March 2019.

With a warm start and a cold end, average temperatures for the winter were only slightly below normal across the Missouri River Basin. Persistent cold, along with frequent snowstorms during the latter half of winter, allowed the snowpack to build across the Plains.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin March – May 2020. Dated June 2020.

Temperatures were largely near normal across the region this spring, with the exception of Colorado, which had its 12th warmest spring since records began in 1895. Although flooding impacted parts of the region this spring, warm and dry conditions early in the season reduced the flood risk and subsequent impacts.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin September – November 2018. Dated December 2018.

Overall, it was a cool autumn across the Missouri River Basin, with widespread temperature departures in the 2-6°F below-normal range.  While precipitation varied across the region, it was a particularly wet autumn for an area extending from eastern New Mexico through Wisconsin.

Provides a definition of El Nino; the outlook for winter temperatures and precipitation; potential winter and spring impacts; and a look back at previous El Nino winters.

NOAA’s Regional Climate Services Program created these Outlooks to inform the public about climate impacts within their respective regions. Each regional report contains easy-to-understand language, and anyone can access them through the Drought Portal at https://www.drought.gov/drought/resources/reports.   

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin June – August 2018. Dated September 2018.  

Summer began extremely warm but ended with cooler temperatures across much of the Basin. Colorado had its 3rd warmest summer on record. Several areas of the Basin had a wet summer. For instance, portions of southeastern South Dakota and northeastern Nebraska had one of their wettest summers on record. However, drought was an issue for some areas, impacting crops and water supplies in Colorado, the Dakotas, Kansas, and Missouri.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin March – May 2018. Dated June 2018.  

While the headlining story this season was the back-to-back temperature extremes of April and May, both flooding and drought impacted the region.