National Weather Service United States Department of Commerce

Severe Thunderstorms in the Midwest and Arizona; Heat Continues in the Southeast and Southwest

Thunderstorms, some severe, may lead to scattered instances of flash flooding across the Midwest and Ohio Valley and southern Arizona. The threat will shift to the Mid-Atlantic coast on Thursday. Dangerous heat persists in the South and Southeast while building into the Southwest. Overnight lows will be so warm that little-to-no relief from the scorching daytime highs will be available. Read More >

October was warm and wet throughout the Ohio Valley and much of the Midwest. Rain fell somewhere in the middle Ohio Valley on 27 days of the month.

Despite the warmth and frequent rains, severe weather was sparse. Only two days of the month experienced damaging thunderstorms. The most significant was on the evening of the 15th when two EF-0 tornadoes touched down in southern Indiana. The first skipped along a 2.7 mile path northeast of New Pekin in Washington County. The second twister was only on the ground for three-fifths of a mile, but moved right into Lexington in Scott County. Both tornadoes primarily caused tree damage. A couple of homes in Lexington had some minor roof damage.

On a much larger scale, the Climate Prediction Center issued a La Niña Advisory on the 14th, indicating that La Niña conditions have developed in the tropics of the Pacific and are expected to continue through the winter.

  Average Temperature Departure from Normal Precipitation Departure from Normal
Bowling Green 64.5° +4.5° 3.94" +0.31"
Frankfort 62.3° +4.7° 4.78" +1.14"
Lexington 60.8° +3.0° 6.58" +2.92"
Louisville Ali 65.0° +4.7° 4.04" +0.32"
Louisville Bowman 63.6° +4.8° 4.39" +0.74"

 

Records

14th: Warm low of 65° at Lexington, warm low of 67° at Louisville
15th: Warm low of 65° at Lexington, rainfall of 1.00" at Lexington

11th warmest October at Bowling Green
8th warmest October at Frankfort
6th wettest October at Lexington (7 of the 10 highest October rainfall amounts have occurred since 2002)
5th warmest October at Louisville (tie)

Jefferson Memorial Forest moon

Crescent moon over Jefferson Memorial Forest in Louisville on the 10th.