The past year was noteworthy for the lack of spring, and even less fall comfort. Rare late season (April) and early season (November) snowfalls occurred. Another rarity, a derecho, stretched across three states in June.
Our region's biggest river flooding event of the year occurred around March 1st, due to excessive rainfall amounts in February. The Ohio River at Evansville crested at its highest level since 1997. Relentless heat and humidity occurred during the first half of the summer season, resulting in one of our most uncomfortable 4th of July's on record.
The top ten weather stories, in chronological order:
1. Back-to-back winter storms on January 12 and 15. The first blast dumped more than 7 inches on parts of Calloway and Marshall counties, and 4-6 inches across the rest of western Kentucky and southernmost Illinois. Three days later, another swath of 7-8 inch snow fell from Clinton through Mayfield and Murray to Hopkinsville. Benton recorded more than 8 inches on top of what was already on the ground, and Barkley Field recorded an official total of 8.1 inches.
2. February tornadoes and flooding. Multiple waves of precipitation moved through our region from the evening of February 20th through the morning of February 24th. A handful of tornadoes were sighted, including EF-1 twisters in Lone Oak, Murray and Golo. There was also widespread flooding due to 5 to 8 inches of rain falling over a 5 day period. It was all part of the wettest February in Evansville's history, and the 4th-wettest in Paducah.
3. April tornado cluster. A broken line of severe thunderstorms spawned scattered large hail and wind damage. National Weather Service storm damage surveys revealed 11 tornadoes occurred across portions of southeast Missouri, southern Illinois, and western Kentucky. The two strongest tornadoes were rated EF-2's in Saline County, Illinois and near Burna in Livingston County. An EF-1 tornado formed near the city limits of Metropolis and continued into eastern Massac County. An EF-1 briefly touched down near Wingo.
4. The year without a spring. It was the coldest April ever in Cape Girardeau, and the third-coldest in Paducah, including measurable April snow for the first time since 1983. Then May 1st came, and temperatures warmed up abruptly. A flip in the weather pattern resulted in above normal temperatures occurring on every single day of the month of May. Four record highs were set for May, including two days in the 90s by May 14.
5. May 31 southern Illinois storms/flooding. On the last day of May, damaging winds, large hail, flooding, and 3 tornadoes were observed north of Route 13 and into southwest Indiana and northwest Kentucky during the morning and early afternoon hours. Even after midnight, storms were still ongoing. By this time flooding had become the main threat.
6. Derecho! On June 28, A nearly continuous damage area encompassed the Interstate 57 corridor of southern Illinois all the way down through the Purchase area of western Kentucky. The storm front contained winds of 60 to 75 miles per hour, stretching at one point from St. Louis to Hopkinsville. One fatality occurred in Carlisle County, where a motorcyclist was killed after striking a fallen tree.
7. Oppressive midsummer heat/humidity. From late June into early July, 16 of 19 days saw triple-digit heat indices. The most intense occurred on July 5th when high temperatures reached into the upper 90s and heat index readings soared to between 110 and 115 across much of the region, including 114 in Paducah.
8. Remnants of Hurricane Gordon. On September 7-8, heavy rainfall resulted in pockets of flash flooding. Western Kentucky was largely spared, but in Mount Vernon, Illinois, residences were evacuated during the flooding of a creek. Significant road flooding from 5-6 inches of rain occurred along the Interstate 64 corridor north of the Marion/Carbondale region.
9. Where did fall go? The first 10 days of October saw many record highs well into the 80s and lower 90s. We flipped the switch abruptly in mid October, and the rest of the fall season experienced near record cold temperatures in the middle of October and November. We experience about 44 days of 60s and 70s in a typical fall season. This year, we only experienced 31 "comfortable" days in Paducah. There have only been 1 or 2 other fall seasons on record to have fewer.
10. Rare early season snow and ice. From November 14th into November 15th, Paducah received 1.9 inches, the 2nd-earliest snowfall of an inch or more. (The earliest was October 30, 1993.) Also, 1/4 inch of ice occurred from Christian and Todd Counties northward to Daviess County. When the event wrapped up, many areas had 1 to 3 inches of snow, with a few locally higher totals in southern Illinois centered near Marion.
Full details about each weather event are linked below.
On the Net:
Top Ten Weather Events page
