(Des Moines)– Weather in Iowa in 2002 was fairly typical. That word from State Climatologist Harry Hillaker.
Hillaker says if anything, things were perhaps a little warmer and drier than normal. Hillaker says 2002 will go down as the 32nd warmest year in 130 years of record keeping, and the 44th driest year. He says November will go down as the fourth driest month ever while December will probably go down as the driest and least snowy ever. He says it’s very synonymous of the El Nino pattern we’re experiencing.
Hillaker says things were very quiet when it comes to severe weather in 2002. He says preliminarily, 31 tornados were reported in Iowa for the year, down from the normal of about 46. There was one major hail storm that struck northwest Iowa in early October, heavily damaging soybeans that were about to be harvested.
Hillaker expects the mild, dry weather to carry over into early 2003. He believes El Nino will start to fade by late spring, and that the upcoming growing season will see normal to slightly above normal precipitation with normal temperatures.
