A review of the 10 biggest weather events in 2019

The year 2019 will be remembered as an excessively wet year, one of our wettest on record in fact. This resulted in a prolonged duration of flooding along the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers that lasted deep into the summer season. The relentless wet pattern briefly let up during September, resulting in one of our driest September's on record. The spring severe weather season was relatively quiet, with the most noteworthy event occurring on March 14th when an EF-2 tornado struck Paducah. Severe weather ramped up in a big way in June, and included a 2nd tornado to hit Paducah in three months time, this one an EF-1 on June 23rd. Finally, the fall season will be remembered as one with wild temperature swings and a lack of comfortable fall-like temperatures.

Top 10 Event Summaries for the Year 2019 (in chronological order). CLICK ON IMAGES TO ENLARGE

1. Snowstorm on January 19 causes travel impacts including closing down I-57 in southern Illinois for period of time

Image: Snowfall Totals from Jan 19, 2019

2. Major flooding along Ohio River including record duration at Cairo, IL from February through July

Image: Paducah, KY riverfront February 25 courtesy of Jennifer Rukavina

3. March 14th Tornadoes including EF-2 in Paducah, KY

Image: Tornado track map of Paducah EF-2

4. Major Flooding along Mississippi River for prolonged period from March through August

Image: Cape Girardeau, MO riverfront in June courtesy of Michael Schulz

5. Severe weather ramps up in June including June 21 Derecho and June 23 Paducah Tornado

Image: Tornado track of Paducah EF-1

6. August 6th Large Hail Event

Image: 3.5" diameter hailstone in Raleigh, IL (Saline County) - via Doug Phelps

7. Flash Drought from late August into early October

Image: NWS Paducah graphic portraying the excessively dry September

8. Wild October Temperature Swing and Lack of Fall-like Temperatures

Image: Record fewest number of "comfortable" days with highs in the 60's or 70's in Evansville, IN

9. Record cold start to November accompanied by rare early snow on Veteran's Day

Image: Observed snowfall amounts on Veteran's Day

10. Excessively wet year ranking among top 6 wettest on record at all 3 climate stations

Image: NWS Paducah summary graphic for 2019