Winter of 2012/2013 Continues Unprecedented Streak of 17 Winters without a Major Cold Wave

February ends meteorological winter, and eastern Kentucky has passed through yet another winter without a major cold air outbreak. Since the winter of 1995-1996 there have not been any extreme cold weather events in eastern Kentucky with temperatures falling well below zero. This unusually long stretch of winters without extreme cold is unprecedented in the past 100 years.

The coldest temperatures this winter occurred during the first couple days of February when single digit lows were observed across parts of eastern Kentucky. While the lowest temperatures observed this winter were colder than those observed in the winter of 2011-2012, eastern Kentucky once again escaped any extreme cold.

The following 4 graphs show the coldest temperatures observed for each winter at Jackson, London, Farmers and Williamsburg. Records date back to 1981 at Jackson, 1954 at London, 1904 at Farmers, and 1896 at Williamsburg. All four graphs show the absence of extreme cold temperatures since the middle 1990s.