2015's Precipitation and Temperature Averages So Far

We're a little over halfway through 2015 and how have precipitation totals and temperatures compared to normal? Well, it's been a wet year so far. The graphic below shows the precipitation departure from normal in inches. The blue, green and pink colors represent above normal precipitation. Much of the lower Ohio Valley west toward the mid Mississippi Valley is averaging 8 to as much as 20 inches above normal!

Zooming in closer to Kentucky and Indiana, you can see that the entire region has observed above average precipitation so far in 2015.

A lot of that rain fell in the month of June. The map below is an estimate of those totals from the Multi-Radar Multi-Sensor (MRMS) system, which uses both NWS radars as well as area rain gauges. Based on this map, portions of southern Indiana received up to 13-14" of rainfall in June! The values match up well with a nearby Cooperative Weather Observer in Leavenworth, IN (the southeast part of Crawford county), who recorded 9.59" of precipitation in June. Another observer near Paoli had 9.12".

How about specific cities in Kentucky? The following graphs show 2015's accumulation (green) compared to normal (brown) and the highest amount year to date (blue) for Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort and Bowling Green.

Louisville (Standiford Airport)

Lexington (Bluegrass Airport)

Frankfort (Capital City Airport)

Bowling Green (Warren Co Airport)

Temperatures so far in 2015 have averaged right around normal across the region.

City	2015 Avg Temp (F)	Departure (F)
Louisville	53.0	+0.5
Lexington	49.9	-1.0
Bowling Green	53.2	-0.5

Louisville (Standiford Field)

Lexington (Bluegrass Airport)

Frankfort (Capital City Airport)

Bowling Green (Warren Co Airport)

Finally, what about the forecast? Well, the latest 1 month and 3 month outlooks from the Climate Prediction Center shows that there is higher chances for below normal temperatures and above normal precipitation. For now, the wet/coolish pattern continues.

July Temperature Outlook	July Precipitation Outlook