January 2021 Climate Review: Temperatures finished above normal by around 3 to 4 degrees. We lacked extreme warm or cold temperatures through the month. This was only the 4th January since 1983, and first time since 2011, that Paducah failed to register at least one day with readings reaching 60 degrees. Also, Paducah only observed one day with temperatures dipping below 20 degrees (19 on January 12th), which is well below the January average of 8 days, and the fewest number since we had zero days in January 2006. Evansville only dipped below 20 degrees twice, which was well below the average of 9 days, and fewest since 2006 as well. This was also the first January that Paducah failed to register a sub-freezing high temperature since 2012.
Most areas were on pace to finish drier than normal, until a swath of heavy rain of 2 to 4 inches occurred on January 25th across the southern half of the area. This resulted in the month finishing wetter than normal across the southern part of southeast Missouri, most of western Kentucky, and small portions of southern Illinois. Amounts were significantly less with the January 25th event further north. Thus, January still finished drier than normal from Van Buren to Cape Girardeau Missouri, along the Route 13 corridor in southern Illinois, across portions of southwest Indiana, and far northwest Kentucky. The highest observed amount for the month occurred in Marshall County Kentucky, where the KY mesonet station 4 miles north of Benton reported 5.96”.
The lack of extreme temperatures allowed the month to finish with no severe thunderstorms and below normal snowfall for most of the region. The main snow event during the month occurred on January 27th, when amounts of 2 to 4 inches were observed across southeast Missouri and southern Illinois. The streak of consecutive days without a 1” snowfall continued in Paducah and Evansville, with both stations now over 14 months and counting since the last 1" snowfall back on Veteran's Day 2019.
The graphic below is an interpolated rainfall map using actual observations. Please note that there are likely discrepancies in between observations, since the values are estimated based on nearest reports.
| January 2021 Review: Precipitation and Temperature Maps (Click on image to enlarge) |
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| Climate Maps are from the Northeast Regional Climate Center |
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