June 2019 Climate Summary

June 2019 Climate Review: Temperatures finished slightly below normal by around 0.5 to 2 degrees. Most of the month was actually close to normal temperature-wise, except for a period from June 10-14 when the region experienced a refreshing airmass with very low humidity for an extended stretch. This resulted in night-time temperatures dropping into the 50s on a daily basis. Many locations even observed record to near record lows in the 40s on June 14th.

As for precipitation, it was another wet month for our water logged region. This marked the 10th consecutive month of wetter than normal precipitation in Paducah and it was the 7th straight in Evansville. Amounts of 4 to 8 inches were common, with several locations even higher. The areas that observed the most rainfall were across southern Illinois, southwest Indiana, and the Pennyrile region of western Kentucky. Evansville recorded their 6th wettest June on record, and isolated locations in southwest Indiana received over a foot of rain. An area of far southwest KY (Hickman, Fulton, Graves Counties) observed near normal rainfall for the month.

It was a very active month for severe thunderstorms and flash flooding across our forecast area. The period from June 16-26 was especially active, with 4 different events producing widespread impacts. This included the June 21 derecho and the June 23 event that produced 6 tornadoes, including an EF-1 that went through Paducah. Several flash flooding events occurred, including on June 16th, when some areas received a quick 3 to 5 inches of rain. Our office issued 150 total warnings (104 Severe Thunderstorm, 19 Tornado, and 27 Flash Flood). This was the most for any month since April 2011 and more than the previous 9 months combined.

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.

• June 23, 2019: Severe thunderstorms produce damaging winds and 6 tornadoes including an EF-1 in Paducah
• June 21, 2019: Derecho impacts region with widespread winds of 60 to 75 mph along with 5 tornadoes
• June 19, 2019: Severe thunderstorms produce winds of nearly 70 mph and ping pong sized hail.
• June 16, 2019: Flash Flooding and severe thunderstorms, including water rescues in Union County IL where over 4 inches of rain occurred