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.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin December 2017 – February 2018. Dated March 2018. 

A mix of conditions led to extremes this winter. Montana had its 11th wettest winter, while Kansas and Colorado had their 10th and 14th driest, respectively. Colorado also had its 10th warmest winter. Winter ended on a wet note in both upper and lower parts of the Basin. Missouri had its wettest February on record, while Montana had its 4th.

Quarterly Climate Impacts and Outlook for the Missouri River Basin September – November 2017. Dated December 2017.   

Fall temperatures were above average for the majority of the Basin; however, the season ended quite warm, with many western states ranking in the top 10 warmest Novembers on record. This included Colorado (record warmest) and Wyoming (8th warmest). Precipitation, on the other hand, varied widely throughout the fall. This resulted in no top 10 rankings for wettest or driest fall.