April 2017 Summary

This was one of the warmest Aprils southern Indiana and central Kentucky have ever seen, and the feat was accomplished with very few daily record highs. Instead, there was simply a lack of any significant cold air in the region, leaving us to be consistently warm throughout most of the month. The warmest stretch of the month was from the 13th to the 20th when highs were in the 70s and 80s each day, and many daily lows were in the 60s. Daily averages were generally 10 to 20 degrees above normal during that stretch.

Low pressure traveling from Missouri to Ohio brought us our first severe weather outbreak of the month on the 5th. Thunderstorms erupted in the late afternoon and early evening and were mostly hail producers, including 2" diameter hail near Valley View in Madison County. The system also spun up a small tornado in Henry County and three brief tornadoes in Metcalfe and Green Counties.

The last three days of the month were very active. A slow-moving frontal boundary set up along the Ohio River. On the night of the 28th into the 29th torrential rains soaked southern Indiana and far northern central Kentucky with up to 9 inches of rain, resulting in widespread flooding. There were also several reports of hail and high wind, plus a short-lived tornado in Oldham County. On the 29th, afternoon storms cropped up east of I-65 and dropped large hail, including ping pong ball sized hail covering the ground in Junction City. Then to finish out the month a few thunderstorms moved from south to north across central Kentucky and produced scattered tree damage.

	Average Temperature	Departure from Normal	Precipitation	Departure from Normal	Snowfall	Departure from Normal
Bowling Green	63.9°	+6.2°	4.58"	+0.24"	0	-0.2"
Frankfort	62.5°	+7.3°	3.34"	-0.35"
Lexington	62.5°	+7.2°	1.84"	-1.76"	0	-0.3"
Louisville Bowman	64.3°	+7.2°	5.24"	+1.16"
Louisville International	65.3°	+7.3°	4.47"	+0.46"	0	-0.1"

Records

15th: Record high of 86° at Louisville
20th: Warm low of 65° at Bowling Green, warm low of 65° at Frankfort, warm low of 68° at Louisville
29th: Warm low of 72° at Bowling Green (warmest low temperature ever recorded in April), warm low of 64° at Frankfort, record high of 86° at Lexington
30th: Warm low of 68° at Bowling Green, warm low of 67° at Frankfort, warm low of 70° at Louisville

Warmest April on record at Frankfort, Lexington, and Louisville
2nd warmest April on record at Bowling Green

Hail damage just northeast of Eminence on the 5th. NWS Storm Survey