November 2018 Summary

This was a cold, wet November. Precipitation was frequent but usually light, and we saw both rain and snow. Precipitation fell on 22 days of the month at Lexington, 21 days at Louisville, and 19 days at Bowling Green and Frankfort.

On the evening of the 5th a severe squall line swept across Kentucky, Tennessee, and the Deep South. Three small tornadoes spun up over central Kentucky and general winds gusted over 40 mph across much of the southeastern half of the Commonwealth. Many locations received 2-3 inches of rain which resulted in some minor flooding.

The coldest part of the month was from the 8th to the 16th. Morning lows were well down into the 20s on the 10th and 11th (there were even some teens on the 11th), and most places struggled to rise above freezing on the 14th.

Snow fell somewhere in the region on 5 different days. The most significant wintry precipitation took place mid-month. Freezing rain moved into the area late on the 14th and continued into the early morning of the 15th before ending as a dusting of snow. Many locations received between a tenth and a quarter of an inch of ice accumulating on trees/shrubs and other elevated surfaces. Warm ground temperatures kept most roads ice free, though some bridges had slick spots. The ice on the trees, many of which still had leaves that helped to weigh them down, caused several branches to snap and some trees to fall. There were many reports of power flashes overnight as branches hit transformers. At the peak of the event, over 100,000 customers were without power in the region. It was the first November freezing rain event in Louisville since 1989.

	Average Temperature	Departure from Normal	Precipitation	Departure from Normal	Snowfall	Departure from Normal
Bowling Green	43.8°	-4.6°	5.52"	+1.30"	0.2"	+0.1"
Frankfort	41.6°	-4.5°	5.07"	+1.34"
Lexington	42.0°	-4.3°	4.82"	+1.29"	1.0"	+0.7"
Louisville Bowman	43.4°	-4.2°	4.70"	+1.09"
Louisville International	43.3°	-5.5°	4.76"	+1.17"	0.5"	+0.4"

Records

14th: Cold maximum of 33° at Lexington
15th: Snowfall of 0.3" at Louisville
16th: Snow depth of a trace at Louisville
26th: Snowfall of a trace at Bowling Green
27th: Cold maximum of 31° at Bowling Green

A white forest in Nelson County, KY (photo by Jaymesha Dawson)

Nelson County on the 15th. Jaymesha Dawson