December 2019 Climate Review: Temperatures averaged around 5 to 6 degrees above normal. This was due to the record warmth observed from December 23-29. Temperatures through the first three weeks of the month actually were right near normal. The average high temperature from December 23rd through 29th in Paducah, KY was 67.1 degrees, which was by far the warmest week of Christmas on record. The previous warmest was in 2015 when the average high temperature was 63.4 degrees during the week of Christmas. Evansville, IN and Cape Girardeau, MO observed an average high temperature of 62.7 and 63.9 degrees respectively during the December 23-29 period, which also ranks as their warmest on record. Paducah observed 11 days above 60 degrees, compared to only 8 days in November. This was only the 3rd time on record that December observed more 60+ degree days than November. This also occurred in 1996 and 1951.
Much of the region observed a drier than normal month. This was only the 2nd month of 2019 to finish with below normal precipitation in Paducah, KY. The heaviest rain event for the month occurred the weekend after Christmas on December 28-29, when 1 to 2 inches occurred in many locations. If it wasn’t for this event, several locations would have ranked in their top 10 driest December’s. Southern portions of western Kentucky received the most precipitation (4-5 inches), while the least amount occurred over southeast Missouri (1-2 inches). Snowfall was below normal with only northern counties receiving any measurable snow the entire month. This occurred on December 16th when a dusting to around an inch occurred in northern sections of southern Illinois and portions of the Evansville Tri-state region. Paducah experienced their 5th straight December with no measurable snow, which is the longest December snow drought since we went 7 straight years from 1976-1982.
The graphic below is an interpolated rainfall map using actual observations. Please note that there are likely discrepancies in between observations, since the values are estimated based on nearest reports.
| December 2019 Review: Precipitation and Temperature Maps (Click on image to enlarge) |
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| Climate Maps are from the Northeast Regional Climate Center |
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