Plains and Midwest Have Been the Most Extreme, Record-Breaking Weather Regions So Far in 2019

Since January, the Plains and Midwest have set records for cold, snow, flooding and lowest atmospheric pressure.

Wesley may pile on to those records as it intensifies toward some of lowest atmospheric pressures on record for the month of April in parts of the central Plains. It could also set all-time multi-day snowfall records in eastern South Dakota and southwest Minnesota.

Here's a look back at the records that have already fallen in the Plains and Midwest in the past three months.

January's Record Cold

The Midwest went into a deep freeze at the end of January which set all-time cold records. The widespread subzero temperatures were ushered in by a displacement of a lobe of the polar vortex.

Mount Carroll, Illinois, dropped to minus 38 degrees on Jan. 31, setting a new all-time record low for any location in Illinois.

At least 340 cold records were set in the Midwest over two days Jan. 30-31, including all-time record lows that were tied or set in Moline, Illinois, Rockford, Illinois, Mather, Wisconsin, and Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

The coldest temperature was minus 56 degrees in Cotton, Minnesota, on Jan. 31.

Wind chills fell into 60s below zero in parts of Minnesota, North Dakota and northeast Iowa.

Buried in February

January's cold was then followed by feet of snow in February, shattering records in some Midwest and Plains cities.

Eau Claire, Wisconsin, shoveled 53.7 inches of snow in February, easily topping its previous record for not only February, but also any other month of the year.

Minneapolis/St. Paul also smashed its snowiest February in 2019 by over a foot, tallying 39 inches of snow. The previous record was 26.5 inches in February 1962.

Some of the other locations that had a record snowy February are Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan (45.2 inches), Duluth, Minnesota (36.4 inches), Des Moines, Iowa (25.1 inches), and Fargo, North Dakota (21.4 inches).

The Midwest and Plains weren't alone setting February snow records. Parts of the West also joined the club.

Melting Snow Triggers Record River Flooding in March

The persistent cold and snow fueled more weather woes in March.

Winter Storm Ulmer, also known as the March "bomb cyclone", tracked through the Plains and upper Midwest with blizzard conditions, high winds and heavy rain.

Warmer temperatures before Ulmer's arrival in combination with the rain triggered a rapid meltdown of snowpack and record flooding in dozens of locations.

In total, 42 locations set new record river levels, mainly in the Missouri Valley from southeastern South Dakota into Nebraska and western Iowa, but also in parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota and northern Illinois.

Numerous roads, bridges, levees and dams were damaged or destroyed by floodwaters. The damage from flooding and ice jams in the Midwest has topped a billion dollars, according to a report released by NOAA on Tuesday.

'Bomb Cyclone' Winter Storm Ulmer Sets Low Pressure Records

Ulmer also left its mark in history books from a meteorological perspective.

The winter storm's atmospheric pressure dropped from 994 millibars on the evening of March 12 to 968 millibars by the afternoon of March 13. That low of a pressure reading in the central Plains is unusual.

As a result, unofficial all-time record low pressure readings were observed in several locations, including Pueblo, Colorado, Alamosa, Colorado, Amarillo, Texas, and Clayton, New Mexico.

Meteorologists frequently discuss pressure in terms of millibars, rather than inches of mercury. The lower the pressure in a storm, the more intense it is.

And the greater difference in pressure over an area, the stronger the winds.